Several thousand soldiers and police were also sent into the stricken area to help search for survivors. Calls are going out for international aid and requests for food, clothes, medicine, and quilts are being made. Army helicopters were being used to move the injured to hospitals farther from the scene of the devastation, as all of the local hospitals were overwhelmed and people being turned away. Concerns were raised by medical authorities that many, now with collapsed houses and no other shelter, would catch the flu or other infectious dieseases and an epidemic could result. Large parts of the region are lacking electricity, gas, and other basic services.
Temperatures there are well below freezing.
Foriegn tourists and townspeople alike were evacuated from hotels, hostels, and communes with many huddling around campfires. Almost all admitted that they were afraid to return to already damaged buildings, as aftershocks continued to rock the region. At least 180 aftershocks have been registered by seismologists, with several exceeding 4.0 on the Richter scale. Relief supplies and additional rescuers are starting to pour into the region, but Chinese officials on the scene said that they feared many more would die unless essential medicines, personnel, and equipment arrived within the next critical hours. All Rights Reserved.