China quake: 56,000 dead, rebuilding to take 3 yrs

There was a jump in the death toll by 4,589 from on Thursday, as it climbed to 55,740, with 24,960 missing, the Information Office of the State Council or the Cabinet said.

Nearly 11.37 million quake survivors were relocated, it said, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

In Sichuan province alone that bore almost the entire brunt of the 8.0 magnitude temblor, the death toll was 55,239, Vice-Governor Li Chengyun said in Beijing.

More bodies are expected to be pulled out from the rubble of schools, hospitals, factories, houses and other buildings but Li said rescuing survivors still remained the top priority in the province. “We will not give up on trying to save people.”

Relief workers were speeding up their efforts as the Chinese National Meteorological Centre forecast that rains might sweep the quake-hit southwest regions next week and further push up the water level in the ‘quake lakes’ formed by landslides and mud-flows that have blocked rivers.