May 15, 2008

Girl rescued after 68 hrs in China quake rubble


YINGXIU - RESCUERS on Thursday pulled an 11-year-old girl from the rubble of a school 68 hours after it was destroyed in the devastating earthquake that hit southwest China, a reporter witnessed.
In one of the few good news stories that have emerged since the 7.9 magnitude quake claimed tens of thousands of lives, Zhang Chunmei was carried out of the collapsed building in Yingxiu weak but alive.
'It's wonderful, she's alive!' one onlooker exclaimed, as a dozen nurses wearing white coats and uniformed soldiers, all wearing protective masks, tended to her.
They wiped her semi-conscious body with disinfectant and checked her pulse before taking her away for medical care.
AFP reporters were among the first foreign media to reach Yingxiu, the epicentre of Monday's quake, which was accessible only by a boat ride and a two-hour hike along a slippery mountain path.
The small village of about 10,000 people was almost completely destroyed in the quake, and Zhang's miracle survival gave little comfort to other people there who had lost friends or relatives.
At the Yingxiu primary school, well over half of its 500 students are believed to have died in the disaster.
While 150 students managed to escape following the quake, only Zhang and one other child have been pulled out of the rubble.
Many of Zhang's schoolmates have been pulled out dead.
'Why did you leave your mama? Why did you die?' a grief-stricken mother said as she bent over the corpse of her son of about 10 years old, draping him in clean clothes she had brought from home.
Meanwhile, a pair of tiny feet were sticking out of the school's massive collapsed concrete roof, a grim sign that many more bodies were likely to be found.



Thank God that another victim was saved.
the victims involved in this unforseen disaster, pls be strong and hang in there. the rescuers are trying their upmost best to save you. Be strong, u will be able to go through this rough patch.it will be over soon.

Be Strong.