Quake affects grid, power plants in SW China

Six transformer sub-stations were shut down and five power plants were disconnected from the power grid after a major earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Monday, the State Grid said.

But the company's main grid was stable and electricity supply was gradually recovering, said a statement from the State Grid.

All local branches were gearing up to repair damaged facilities, it said.

The supply to the Sichuan grid was reduced by 4 million kilovolts after a 500-KV and five 220-KV transformer substations in Sichuan were affected along with five power plants in western Sichuan.

A series of aftershocks had made it difficult to contact these sites for detailed damage reports, the statement said.

Meanwhile, two 220-KV transformer sub-stations and three power plants in neighboring northwestern Shaanxi Province were also shut down, reducing the load by 1.5 million KV.

The quake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, jolted Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province at 2:28 p.m. Monday.

900 students buried by Sichuan earthquake

Nearly 900 students in southwest China's Sichuan Province were feared buried when a high school building collapsed in Dujiangyan in an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale on Monday afternoon.

The rescue work under way at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City on May 12, 2008.

At least four third-graders,two boys and two girls, were confirmed dead at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City, about 100 kilometers from the epicenter in Wenchuan County, parents and witnesses said.

Xinhua reporters saw a three-story school building had partially collapsed. Some buried teenagers were struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins while others were crying out for help.

Grieved parents watched as five cranes were excavating at the site and an ambulance was waiting.

A tearful mother said his son, third-grader Zhang Chengwei, was buried in the ruins.

Two girls said they escaped because they had "run faster than others."

"It was around 2:30 pm, and the building suddenly began to rock back and forth," one of them recalled.

A villager said the school had 18 classes, all second and third graders, with about 50 students in each class.

"We ran out of the house when the quake hit," said Gao Shangyuan, a villager who lived close to school and helped with the rescue work.

Gao and other villagers helped dozens of students out of the ruins. "Some had jumped out of the window and a few others ran down the stairs that did not collapse."

The quake, felt in most parts of China, has killed 107 nationwide, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs by 18:00.

The rescue work under way at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City on May 12, 2008.

Quake paralyzes phone networks in SW China

Monday's strong earthquake in southwest China has damaged local telecommunications, network operators said in Beijing.

The earthquake stopped local fixed phone services in four counties of Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Aba, Sichuan Province, as well as five counties in neighboring Guansu Province, according to China Telecom.

But the long distance call service remained intact, it said.

China Telecom staff were monitoring and controlling the number of phone calls in and out of the quake-hit regions to avoid congestion in the network and ensure communications for disaster relief, it said.

According to China Mobile's branch in Sichuan, about 2,300 local base stations stopped operating due to power shutdowns and transmission failures caused by the quake and three switching stations were overloaded.

China Mobile has started repairing affected facilities, the office said.

Staff at China Mobile and China Unicom told Xinhua earlier that cell phone services in Sichuan and the northwestern Shaanxi Province were affected by the earthquake.

Besides power disruptions, a surge in call volume following the quake could have also slowed the cell phone network, they said. Call volumes were 10 times the normal level and the percentage of connections fell by half, China Mobile said.

The Ministry of Industry and Information called on users to talk on phone as shortly as possible to spare room for disaster relief.

The quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale jolted Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province at 2:28 p.m. on Monday. Tremors were felt in a large part of China.