'The Whole World Stands Behind You'

U.N. Chief Delivers Message of Support to China; Quake Donations Hit $3.7 Billion

YINGXIU, China, May 24 -- U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday surveyed recovery efforts at one of the towns hit hardest by China's May 12 earthquake, telling Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that "the whole world stands behind you and supports you."

Domestic and foreign donations for relief efforts have reached $3.7 billion, with 15 countries contributing 1,000 tons of aid materials and $72 million as of Wednesday, the state-run New China News Agency reported.

Meanwhile, Chinese officials in charge of workplace and environmental safety say teams have identified and dealt with thousands of "hidden dangers," averting secondary disasters such as chemical and radiation leaks in Sichuan province and surrounding areas rocked by the 7.9-magnitude quake.

"So far, no secondary accidents have occurred in the disaster-stricken areas," Wang Dexue, vice minister of the State Administration of Work Safety, said at a news conference in Beijing.

Wang said production has stopped at 279 mines and chemical enterprises, which will need to pass government safety checks before resuming operations. Most of the mines are small, and the total capacity lost by their shutdown is not expected to affect China's overall output of coal.

Rescue teams are working to dig out 24 trapped miners in three mines in the area, Wang said, adding that he does not know whether they are still alive. "We have had the miracle in the past that a miner was found alive after being trapped underground for 21 days," he said. "We absolutely will not give up."

Wang said 176 miners were killed as a result of the earthquake, and 204 are listed as missing.

Overall, the official death toll jumped to 60,560, with 26,221 people listed as missing. "It may further climb to a level of 70,000, 80,000 or more," Wen, the premier, told reporters.

Nearly half the residents of one town, Yingxiu, were killed or are listed as missing. The steeply winding road to Yingxiu had reopened, and on Saturday the town was crawling with members of the People's Armed Police and the People's Liberation Army, provincial health disinfection teams, forensic scientists and civilian volunteers trying to impose order.

On the main street, soldiers lined up with shovels and black body bags at the ready, while bulldozers shoved debris. Teams in white bodysuits combed the town, and visitors -- and their cars -- were sprayed with disinfectant on departure. Soldiers shot some abandoned, hungry dogs to put them out of their misery.

In the late afternoon, two soldiers shouted: "Hurry, hurry! There's going to be an explosion!" They pushed people back before a huge deliberate blast demolished a large building and sent clouds of smoke billowing.

Confusion stalled some recovery efforts. Li Fujin, 42, a credit union employee, rushed up to a soldier and told him: "There are four people buried over there, and there are three safes. Just now, People's Armed Police soldiers were helping us, but they realized they were working in the wrong place, and they left."