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| WORLD NEWS - WORLD NEWS - China earthquake |
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 12 May China earthquake buries 900 students
Around 900 students are reported to have been buried by collapsed buildings during an earthquake in south-western China.
Chinese state media reports say President Hu Jintao has called for "all-out" efforts to rescue victims of the quake which had a magnitude of 7.8. Reports say tremors were felt as far afield as Beijing, the Thai capital, Bangkok, and Hanoi in Vietnam.
Chinese media said full details of the incident which buried 900 students are not available.
However, earlier reports said four schoolchildren were reported to have died, and more than 100 others were injured, when primary school buildings collapsed in the Chongqing area, a large municipality near Sichuan province.
China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is reportedly travelling to the area and troops are being sent to help with disaster relief efforts.
At least 10 people are reported to have been injured in Dujiangyan city, near the epicentre in the mainly rural Wenchuan county, when rows of houses collapsed.
A spokesman for the provincial seismological bureau told Xinhua more people were feared injured or dead.
Forty-four aftershocks have been reported since the quake, which was the strongest to hit Sichuan province in more than 30 years, according to Xinhua reports.
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