Sichuan quake toll surpasses 32,000
2008-05-18 HKT 17:09
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The confirmed death toll in
Monday's massive earthquake in
Sichuan has risen to more than
32,000, with more than
220-thousand injured. Vice
Premier Li Keqiang has become
the latest top leader to visit
the area to oversee disaster
relief work. Xinhua news
agency said Mr Li, who is
widely seen as Premier Wen
Jiabao's successor in five
years time, arrived in
Mianyang -- one of the cities
worst hit by the quake -- at
lunchtime today. Earlier, a
man was found alive after
being trapped for 139 hours in
a collapsed hospital in Beichuan in the northern part
of Sichuan. The huge relief
operation has brought a marked
improvement in circumstances
for many of those left
homeless, as the search for
more possible survivors
continues. Early this morning, a powerful
aftershock, measuring 6.1 on
the Richter Scale, shook the
area.
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