Séisme en Chine
8 jours après le cyclone Nargis au Myanmar- dont les secours parviennent toujours avec parcimonie du fait des interdictions
par la junte Birmane- la Chine était frappée d'un puissant tremblement de terre dans la région du Sichuan, située au sud-ouest du pays.
Le bilan risque de s'alourdir encore mais on dénombre déjà près de 20 000 morts, avec certains villages détruits à plus de 80%. Devant l'ampleur du séisme et malgré les importants moyens mis en place, la Chine a accepté l'aide internationale, tout en posant ses conditions.
Face à la répétition et la violence de ces catastrophes, il apparaît de plus en plus urgent de réfléchir à une réponse humanitaire internationale d'urgence, détachée de tous enjeux politiques, afin de sauver le maximum de victimes.
Last reviewed: 14-05-2008 POWERFUL QUAKE HITS SOUTHWEST
A powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck southwest China on May 12, killing more than 14,500 people__ and injuring thousands more, according to state media.
The death toll is expected to rise as authorities and rescue teams make contact with the worst-hit areas of Sichuan province, where official news agency Xinhua said 25,000 were still buried and another 14,000 missing. The quake was the worst to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan tremor in northeastern China where up to 300,000 died. Roads and phone lines have been cut off since the quake, which caused buildings to sway across China and as far away as the Thai capital Bangkok.
The epicentre was in the mountainous county of Wenchuan, which has a population of about 100,000 people. In the worst-hit areas - the hilly, rural area of Beichuan as well as Wenchuan to the southwest - blocked roads meant aid has been slow to arrive, and army troops having to hike in on foot. State television said thousands of soldiers and paramilitary People's Armed Police carrying medical supplies were headed to the region.
Buildings toppled in at least six counties near the epicentre, Xinhua said. At least 1,000 students and teachers were buried under a seven-storey school in the Beichuan city of Mianyang, and parents were desperate and angry after hundreds of teenagers and children were buried in several other schools. At least one hospital was also reported to have collapsed.
Xinhua said Beichuan - a poor area of steep hills where farmers grow oranges, peppercorns and vegetables - needed tents, blankets, coats, drinking water and medicine.
Premier Wen Jiabao rushed to the area and President Hu Jintao ordered an "all-out" rescue effort, Xinhua reported. Officials have warned of calamities downstream from broken rivers and dams strained to bursting point, as well as mudslides on brittle hillsides where rain has been forecast for the coming days.
Xinhua said there was no immediate impact to the Three Gorges Dam project, hundreds of kilometres from Chengdu. But experts have said the weight of its massive reservoir could increase the risk of tremors. The U.S. Geological Survey said on its website that the main quake struck at 0628 GMT at a depth of 10 km (6 miles).