China devastated by worst quake in 50 years

Some 100,000 military troops and police have been mobilized to help in search and rescue efforts in Sichuan, where the strongest earthquake to hit China in more than half a century caused devastation on Monday. The death toll from the 7.9-magnitude earthquake has now exceeded 13,000 and is likely to continue to rise, according to Reuters.

According to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the situation in the quake-hit area is worse than initially estimated and rescue work has been hampered by aftershocks and poor weather conditions, The Standard writes. The quake left altogether tens of thousands of people dead, missing or buried under rubble, AFP says.

The attempts of rescuers to reach the worst-hit areas have been badly disrupted by torrential rain and the sheer scale of the damage. A team of 1,300 troops and army medics had to hike through rugged terrain into Wenchuan county, located right at the epicenter of the quake. Plans to air-drop food and medical supplies to the city were scrapped due to bad weather, according to The Standard.

Coal mines, oilfields and chemical plants in the quake-affected area were told by authorities to halt operations pending damage assessments. However, officials from major coal exporters said there was little impact on mining or logistics, Reuters reports.

Oil flow in Sichuan's main pipeline had to be temporarily suspended after the quake to check for possible damages. PetroChina's productions in Sichuan and Shaanxi "have been affected at different levels by the quake, but the impacts are manageable and limited," Reuters quotes Mao Zefeng, the company spokesman, as saying.

Transportation networks in the region have also been heavily damaged. A major rail link from Chengdu to Baoji was cut off when a tunnel collapsed, and numerous roads have been blocked or damaged, Xinhua writes.

The Standard reports of a senior army officer saying that there was "unusually severe" damage in Yingxiu, a town situated close to the epicenter of the quake. "Helicopters are prepared to airlift food, medicine, and water to the area once weather conditions allow," the newspaper quotes him as saying.

According to Xinhua, 187 trains carrying relief materials, including 50,000 tents and one fuel train, would head to the affected areas. An additional 1,400 trains will also be deployed for disaster relief.

The Chinese government has quadrupled the amount of aid to this stricken area to 860 million yuan (nearly 80 million euros), the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. China has also received numerous offers of aid from all over the world, Reuters says.

Aftershocks continued to shake the region on Wednesday, disrupting the search and rescue efforts. The China Meteorological Administration forecasts cloudy conditions for the region for the next two days, Bloomberg writes.