5/19/08

current event
title:China mourns as quake death toll climbs
who:
what:Crowds gathered in the devastated city of Chengdu shouted "Farewell, friends!" and "Rebuild!" as China began three days of national mourning Monday to honor the tens of thousands killed by last week's massive earthquake.
when:5/19/08
where:China
why:The death toll in worst-hit Sichuan province, southwestern China, rose to at least 34,073 with another 245,109 people hurt, Chinese government officials said Monday. Authorities have estimated that the final death toll could reach 50,000, while millions more people have been left homeless by the disaster.
Traffic halted, work stopped and people bowed their heads across the country to observe three minutes of silence as air raid sirens, car, truck and train horns sounded a "wail of grief" at 2:28 p.m. (0628 GMT), exactly one week since the earthquake struck. Even rescue workers paused from the job of clearing debris and searching for survivors to mark the moment.
In Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, the three minutes was followed by shouts of support for the recovery effort, CNN correspondent Eunice Yoon said.
"During the moment of silence they were all holding hands, some of them were weeping... They are in a state of utter disbelief and utter shock that so many people have died," said Yoon.
how:Earlier, Xinhua reported that two women had been pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed residential building in the Sichuan county of Beichuan.
Wang Fazhen, 50, was rescued at about 10:30 a.m. local time Monday. The other woman, who was not identified, was pulled from the same area about 40 minutes later, the agency reported.
On Sunday a 53-year-old man, was pulled out of the rubble in Yingxiu town in Sichuan's Wenchuan county -- near the epicenter -- 148 hours after the quake, Xinhua said. The effort took eight hours, the news agency said.
In Beijing's Tiananmen Square around 2,600 people watched as the national flag was ceremonially lowered to half-mast. Flags throughout the country were also lowered and condolences books were opened in China's Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassies and consulates around the world, Xinhua reported.
CNN's Beijing bureau chief Jaime Florcruz said it was the first time China had formally commemorated the victims of a natural disaster in a period of national mourning.