Sichuan: Pingwu primary school devastated

This video shows the main gate and dormitory area of what used to be a primary school in Pingwu county, Sichuan. Children’s drawings are still taped to the wall.

Sichuan: “The city of Beichuan no longer exists”

The man in this video explains to Lin Di that there is an entire village; houses, people, everything, buried under the large mound of earth as a result of the earthquake. He says the river waters were building up against the landslide until the People’s Armed Police came and blasted the earth away to prevent further flooding.

Sichuan: Video from aftershock epicenter

Reporting by Mandarin service reporter Lin Di
Tr. Luisetta Mudie

PINGWU COUNTY, Sichuan–The dusty road from Jiangyou city to Pingtong township is obstructed at every turn by hooting traffic and fallen lumps of concrete. Five kilometers from the worst-hit area, buses are forced to halt and their passengers begin to walk towards the scene of the latest tragedy, in which casualties include many children.

Sichuan: Video and interviews from Dujiangyan

RFA Mandarin service Hong Kong-based reporter Lin Di reports from Dujiangyan, Sichuan province:

These forces are specialists in getting people out from under collapsed building, this officer says. They are usually stationed in Yunnan. They have been in Dujiangyan for three days.  “There are forces here from Sichuan, Yunnan, and many other provinces,” he says. The bright lights are running off generators; they brought them along with them. There is no power at all in the city; only vehicle headlights.

In Dujiangyan, the stench of dead bodies fills the air. Most people here are wearing masks. I clamber over the rubble of a collapsed building that must have been four or five-storeys high. A rescue worker tells me that there are still more than a dozen bodies buried underneath the debris.  “We checked,” he says. “They are all dead.”

Chongqing: Many aftershocks reported from quake

Mandarin service reporter Lin Di arrived in Chongqing on Tuesday, the day after the earthquake. Even though the authorities said that the airport in Chengdu was supposed to be open, several flights going there were delayed and eventually cancelled. Lin Di had to rebook a flight for Chongqing instead. He arrived in Chongqing in the middle of the night on Tuesday. According to local authorities, as of 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13, in Chongqing, 11 people have died in the earthquake and 34 people sustained serious injuries, 118,000 people have been evacuated, and more than two million people in the city have been affected.

Sichuan: Parents wait outside collapsed high school

Video: Two students in a dormitory room at the University of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, record their experience during the quake and post it to Tudou.com, a Chinese equivalent of YouTube. It is later reposted on YouTube.

A resident of Dujiangyan who helped to rescue people caught in the collapse of a secondary school building said. “The building is three storeys high, with 18 classrooms. All of the sudden the building collapsed. Many people have died. The People’s Liberation Army are rescuing those trapped under the rubble. Such a terrible tragedy. Many parents are having to wait here for news.”

China: Quake aftermath in Sichuan

China’s official media now say the earthquake death toll in Sichuan province has topped 12,000 and could surge higher.

The vice governor of the southwestern province, Li Chengyun, said the death toll was based on incomplete figures as of Tuesday afternoon. He said 26,206 people were injured, up to 3.5 million homes destroyed, and more than 12,000 were had been killed. Tens of thousands remain unreachable and unaccounted for.

This report is from Yingxiu township in Sichuan, by RFA Mandarin service reporter Yan Xiu:

Tibet, China: Dialogue is crucial, says lama

This is a continuation of an RFA Mandarin service report from Wei Si:

The monks in the lamasery in Daofu county, Sichuan province, also tell us that a group of reporters arrived a few days ago, but were turned away by Chinese security forces who were guarding the gates. Such incidents have become commonplace since the Tibetan anti-Chinese protests which began on March the 14th in Lhasa, they say.

China, Tibet: Updates from Qinghai and Sichuan

From Mandarin service reporter Shen Hua:

There were Tibetan protests in Heka Township in Xinghai County of Qinghai Province on March 25. Around 15 or 16 participants have been detained, including some who surrendered themselves to police.

Gesang Jianzan, a member of the Tibetan Government in Exile told RFA that “As far as I know, around a thousand Tibetans took part in the protests, including monks and laymen. They carried banners such as ‘There is no freedom in Tibet!’ ‘Let Dalai Lama home!’” “Several dozens have been arrested, including several people of whom I know their names.”

Mr. Zhang in Heka Township told RFA that “I heard several dozens of Tibetan demonstrated on March 25. They were carrying white flags at the demonstration.” He said “Now the local situation is stable.” The white flags are in fact banners with slogans.

China, Tibet: Paris protests

“No torch in Tibet!” reads the banner suspended from this Parisian bridge by protesters during the march of the Olympic torch, which makes its way to Beijing this summer.

Photo: Students for a Free Tibet photostream on Flickr.