China's Hu reaches out to earthquake survivors

JIEGU, China (AFP) – Chinese President Hu Jintao called on rescuers Sunday to keep searching for survivors as he visited victims of a powerful quake in the country's northwest that left more than 1,700 dead.

The Chinese leader promised new homes and schools as he reached out to victims on a visit to the region hit four days ago by a 6.9-magnitude quake that killed 1,706 people and left 256 missing.

Just before his arrival, spirits were lifted by the rescue of a 68-year-old man trapped beneath rubble for more than 100 hours, the official Xinhua news agency reported, adding the man's condition was stable.

In a departure from his usually formal style, Hu stood amid the rubble in Jiegu, the largest city affected by the quake, and urged rescuers to keep going.

"We will do our best to rescue people still trapped. If there is even one chance (of finding someone), we will make an all-out effort," he said in scenes broadcast on television.

At another stop, Hu told a crowd through a megaphone the government would provide essentials such as food, drinking water, shelter, quilts and warm clothing.

"The earthquake is merciless but human beings have compassion," Hu told the crowd, adopting a warmth more usually associated with Premier Wen Jiabao.

In a makeshift hospital, Hu put an arm around a bed-ridden young woman wearing a sling. "Grandpa Hu will think of you," he said, patting her shoulder as she wept.

"There will be new schools! There will be new homes!" he wrote in chalk on a blackboard while visiting orphans in a tent turned into a classroom, Xinhua reported.

More than 100 students and 12 teachers died as schools and dormitories collapsed and dozens more people remain missing, state media reported.

The reports did not say whether Hu spoke about efforts to ensure schools can withstand earthquakes -- a sensitive issue since thousands of children died in May 2008 in the huge Sichuan quake, in which many school buildings collapsed while neighbouring structures stood firm.

More than 6,000 people have been pulled alive from the rubble of collapsed buildings, officials said. The number of personnel aiding rescue and recovery operations on the Tibetan Plateau has risen to 15,000.

On the streets of Jiegu, boxes of bottled water were dropped to help residents cope with water shortages as aid continued to pour in.

Infrastructure in Jiegu suffered major damage in the quake, with the water supply "basically paralysed", Xia Xueping, spokesman for relief efforts, said.

Officials have warned of a growing threat of disease due to sanitation risks including damage to water supplies that could leave them polluted, although no such outbreaks had yet been reported.

The Dalai Lama, whom Beijing considers a separatist and was born in Qinghai province, has appealed to Chinese authorities to allow him to visit the quake zone, where more than 12,000 people were injured and 100,000 left homeless.

In Jiegu, residents were talking excitedly about the possibility of the Tibetan spiritual leader visiting for the first time since he fled after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

"Everyone would like to see the Dalai Lama come here. He should come here," said 52-year-old Dorje, who like many Tibetans goes by one name, as he circled a local temple in a daily prayer ritual.

However, it appeared unlikely Beijing would allow the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to visit the crippled area.

Tibetan Buddhist monks wearing maroon-and-saffron robes have been a prominent part of the rescue effort, digging by hand in search of survivors.

Monks cremated hundreds of victims on Saturday as hopes dimmed of finding further survivors.

Health authorities are particularly concerned that marmots who emerged from their burrows after the quake could spread pneumonic plague, Xinhua cited Jie Xuehui, a provincial health official, as saying.

Relief efforts have been complicated by sub-zero temperatures at night and scant oxygen due to the altitude -- around 4,000 metres (13,000 feet).

However the earthquake rescue headquarters warned against unauthorised people travelling to the stricken region to help, saying the area was now over-burdened by visitors.

"At present a flood of individuals and vehicles are entering the quake zone, adding extra difficulties to the rescue and relocation efforts," the headquarters said, quoted by Xinhua.