China feels aftershocks

KASHGAR, China -- Hundreds of aftershocks rocked western China Tuesday, claiming more lives a day after a major earthquake crumpled thousands of homes and schools. The death toll rose to at least 266 people, with another 2,000 injured, state media reported.\nThe latest deaths included rescue workers who were struck by debris as they pulled victims from the rubble during aftershocks, and residents who succumbed to their injuries from Monday's powerful earthquake, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.\nChinese officials put the magnitude of Monday's quake at 6.8, while the U.S. Geological Survey recorded it at 6.3.\nMore than 500 aftershocks jolted the area overnight, including one before dawn that registered magnitude 5, Xinhua said. Aftershocks could be felt as far away as Kashgar, about 180 miles from the hardest-hit part of the remote region.\n"I felt about three and they lasted for a minute each. Everything was shaking," said Kashgar resident Ani Abdul.\nThe disaster zone stretched through an isolated western section of the Xinjiang region near China's mountainous border with Kyrgyzstan. Xinhua said nearly 9,000 houses and hundreds of other buildings were destroyed.\nAbout 600 of the injured were hospitalized in serious condition, officials said.\nRescuers dug through debris by hand on Tuesday, fearing that heavy equipment could further injure survivors, said a volunteer in the hardest-hit village, Chongku Qiake. Officials said 90 percent of that town's 30,000 people were forced to leave damaged homes.\nThe government sent 9,000 tents to the disaster zone, but there was no immediate figure on how many people were left homeless in the subfreezing temperatures.\nAlmost all the dead were in Bachu County, where flimsy building construction seemed to have contributed to the death toll, officials said. The neighboring county of Jiashi was closer to the epicenter but suffered little damage; its homes have been reinforced following severe quakes in recent years.\nRelief supplies and rescue teams with search dogs began arriving early Tuesday from Beijing, about 1,750 miles to the east. People in the regional capital of Urumqi donated clothing and supplies. Businesses in Xinjiang collected $300,000 for relief.\nSome of those killed were children whose schools collapsed in the tremors. Xinhua said 900 classrooms were wrecked. Officials said at least 12 students died.\nPhotos in state newspapers Tuesday showed residents bundled against the winter cold standing in the street alongside salvaged belongings. A wrecked schoolhouse was shown with one cracked brick wall left standing, displaying tattered posters of Karl Marx and Mao Zedong.\nEarthquakes are common in Xinjiang, especially its far west, which includes the foothills of the Pamir and Tianshan mountains.\nXu Jing, who moved to Kashgar from Jiashi in 1997, said aftershocks woke him twice overnight. "I'm used to it," he said.\nThe Communist Party leader for Xinjiang, the deputy secretary of China's Cabinet and the deputy minister of civil affairs were at the scene supervising rescue work, state television said.\nThe Greek government announced it would send $215,000 in emergency aid. The China Daily newspaper said the Chinese and Xinjiang Red Cross societies sent winter clothes, quilts and other aid worth $55,000.\nForeign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said China was "very grateful," for humanitarian aid and expressions of condolence from foreign governments.\nChina's deadliest earthquake in modern history struck the northeastern city of Tangshan July 28, 1976, killing some 240,000 people. Its magnitude was measured at 7.8 to 8.2.