Rescue ongoing despite end of 'Golden hours', toll nears 600

QUAKE LAKE

Near the border of Ludian and Qiaojia, a barrier lake has led to the evacuation of 4,200 residents from the lower reaches of the Niulan River.

Sun Huaikun, who is in charge of the barrier lake response, said a reservoir on the upper reaches is intercepting river water to reduce pressure on the lake, while two hydropower stations on the lower reaches are speeding up the discharge of water from the lake.

Nine people in Qiaojia are missing, 2,400 are injured and another 230,000 have been relocated but are still suffering water and food shortages.

Over 280 km of water pipes and facilities at 37 water sources have been damaged or destroyed, cutting off supply to over 300,000 people. Local bottled water plants are providing 50,000 liters of drinking water every day, a woefully inadequate volume for the number of people in need. In relocation centers in worst hit areas such as Longtoushan, residents can drink bottled water and have hot meals.

Zhou Minghui, head of Ludian's water bureau, said an emergency water distribution network should have been ready by Wednesday.

POVERTY, FRAGILITY

Survivors are risking life and limb to retrieve their belongings.

Chang Cheng, 28, found two books of his family tree in the debris. "My father died in the disaster. I know these things meant a lot to him. I don't care about all the other things left in our home," he said.

Wang Facai managed to recover 16,000 yuan (about 2,600 U.S. dollars), along with quilts and clothes from the ruins of his home and immediately put the cash in a nearby bank.

"Many survivors have begged us to help search for their property. Sometimes we had to say yes, even though it slows down our efforts to save people," Dai said.

The earthquake has revealed the acute poverty and fragility in the region, which appears pretty much unchanged, despite having been previously exposed by disasters of this kind.

In Ludian, nearly 60 percent of farmers live on less than 1 dollar per day and houses built with mud clay are the best they can afford.

A national plan to improve earthquake defense promised to make buildings in most urban areas resistant to 6.0 magnitude earthquakes, but in Yunnan, especially in remote areas, most infrastructure and houses are not resistant to earthquakes, said Zhang Junwei, a director of Yunnan earthquake administration, If villagers had money to rebuild and maintain their homes, less damage and fewer casualties would have resulted.