05/16/2008
Chinese President Hu Jintao flew into the quake disaster area on Friday, saying that rescue efforts were entering their "most crucial" phase.
Hu travelled to Sichuan province in central China to view the devastation and massive relief operation that includes more than 130-thousand troops. "Although over seventy-two hours has passed, we should still regard saving people's lives as the most urgent and most important thing", Hu said.
Upon his arrival in Mianyang city, he was briefed by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who has been in the earthquake zone since Monday, shortly after after the earthquake hit. Mianyang has become a receiving centre for survivors pouring out of devastated areas in the earthquake's epicentre, 60 miles (100 kilometres) to the west.
Nearly four days after the quake hit, the confirmed death toll stood nearly 20-thousand. However, the Earthquake and Disaster Relief Headquarters of the State Council, the country's cabinet, warned the toll could rise above 50-thousand. Tens of thousands could still be buried in collapsed buildings in Sichuan province, where the quake was centred, according to officials.
In Mianzhu, close to where Hu arrived, seven schools collapsed in the quake, burying 17-hundred people, the Xinhua news agency said. About 13-hundred bodies had been recovered so far, it reported.
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