Sounds of Life, but Few Options for Rescue

BEICHUAN, China, May 15 -- "What floor were you on?" Five taps. "How many are you?" Eight taps. Then, tap, tap, tap, tap.

From beneath seven stories of rubble, 72 hours after Monday's massive earthquake, there were sounds of life. The taps came from the bottom of a school that slid down a slope and was buried under what was once a grocery store.

Dozens of soldiers arrived soon after the discovery and began planning how to dig the survivors out. To do it safely would take hours, they reasoned, and they would need heavy equipment to move the tower of concrete, bricks and wood.

"But they will die. That's too long," said one of the soldiers.

A local man helping with the rescue volunteered to try to wriggle in underneath the rubble to see if he could pull anyone out. But as he shined a flashlight into the crevice of twisted metal, he saw no movement.

Small tremors periodically shook the ground. This kind of rescue was too dangerous, the soldiers' commander determined, and there was little hope of getting heavy equipment anywhere near this valley of collapsed buildings.

As the soldiers continued planning, villagers walked through in a desperate search for loved ones. On the broken slabs of what had been an apartment building, one man blew a whistle and put his ear to the rubble for any reply. Another man called a name, over and over. After hundreds of cries, he hunched down, buried his head and sobbed.

Another man stood silently, a plastic bag of photographs in his hand and tears in his eyes, gazing at the pile of bricks and wires that had been a kindergarten where his wife taught. There were no signs of life in this pile.

A soldier from an army hospital said at least 80 people had been rescued in Beichuan on Thursday, 60 of them students. Five people were seen being carried away on stretchers through the ruins of the town, which used to have a population of 40,000. The injured were taken about a half-mile down a dirt trail to a road where ambulances were waiting.

Dozens of villagers also trudged along the path, many finally giving up hope of finding their families. Liu Hong stumbled along in black high-heeled sandals, the only shoes she had. Her arms were wrapped around all she had left of her life: a yellow cotton quilt, a black satchel, a pair of slippers, black socks and a comb. They had all belonged to her fiance, who was killed in the quake when his two-story office building was swallowed into the earth.

"I couldn't even find his body. Why can't I find his body?" she cried as she walked. "We wanted to live together for 70 years. We promised we were going to bury our ashes together."

Smoke rose from smoldering ruins. Several smashed cars sat on a hillside. Rockslides had pushed down trees and smashed into the town, leaving it looking as if it had been bombed. Buildings were cocked to one side. Some were cracked open. The only regular sounds were from heavy earthmoving equipment trying to get boulders out of the road. An acrid smell hung over the streets.