Sichuan earthquake: survivors found after four days

BEICHUAN,China (AP) — Rescuers pulled survivors from the rubble Friday who hadbeen buried for four days as a strong aftershock sparked landslidesnear the epicenter of this week's powerful earthquake.

The firstforeign rescue workers since Monday's magnitude 7.9 temblor wereallowed to the scene, and helicopters dropped leaflets urging people to"unite together" and providing survival tips. Officials have said thequake's final toll could reach 50,000.

A day past what expertscall the critical three-day window for finding survivors, rescuerspulled a nurse to safety who had been trapped for 96 hours in thedebris of a clinic in Beichuan county, Xinhua reported.

A callfrom the ruins of an apartment building drew a group of volunteers, whospent more than four hours using hands and spades to rescue amiddle-aged woman. Brought to the surface, she could not speak and wasgiven to medics.

"She had the will to live," said Xu Tao, one ofthe volunteers, a demobilized soldier and now an office worker in theeastern city of Tangshan. "I'm just exhausted."

CHINA has united behind Premier Wen Jiabao as he visits earthquake disaster sites, weeping over the dead, comforting injured children and encouraging victims still trapped in the rubble.

Mr Wen took charge of relief efforts, and has visited every scene of devastation since the 7.9-magnitude quake hit Sichuan province on Monday.

He has been the focus of much of China's television coverage of the disaster, stumbling as he climbs on some rubble and injuring his arm but shrugging off assistance.

"I am Grandpa Wen," he yelled to trapped school students. "You will be rescued."

Angry Chinese have demanded to know why so many schools collapsed during the Sichuan earthquake.

In a rare conversation with ordinary people on a government-run website it emerged that nearly 7,000 classrooms were destroyed in the disaster.

Officials struggled to answer questions about why the figure was so high and promised to punish anyone responsible for shoddy construction.

According to risk consulting firm AIR Worldwide, the economic cost of the Sichuan earthquake may well exceed $20 billion. But the vast majority of the losses are uninsured. AIR Worldwide estimates that insured losses will account for no more than $1 billion.

In the region struck by the earthquake, the purchase of insurance is “minimal for residential properties and only marginally higher for commercial properties,” AIR Worldwide said in a statement. “Although earthquake coverage is mandatory for policies covering construction projects, … in many cases companies do not purchase insurance for smaller projects.”