Xinhua News Agency, Beichuan, Sichuan, May 13 (reporters Feng Cong and Yi Jiang) From morning to noon, a full 6 hours. Xinhua reporters delved deep into one of the hardest-hit earthquake areas in Beichuan County, Sichuan Province, climbing through ruins, landslides, and aftershocks for interviews. The scenes witnessed were heart-wrenching.
Roads twisted like pretzels; the entire county was flattened.
At around 7 a.m., after hiking for over an hour, the reporter finally saw the devastated northern Sichuan county town and could hardly believe the terrible scene: almost all buildings in the county town were completely destroyed, most reduced to rubble with debris everywhere, and thick black smoke rising from several piles of ruins. Crushed cars were scattered all over.
What was even more terrifying is that under every pile of mountainous ruins, there might be trapped civilians. It was understood that in this small city with a population of more than 10,000, only over 4,000 people have been confirmed to have successfully escaped so far.
There were basically no roads left in the county town, and rescuers could only feel their way forward on hillslopes, ditches, and riverbeds. Coming towards them were batches of evacuating disaster victims. Some had head wounds and were being supported by others, while some had fainted on stretchers...
The Yangjiastreet Farmers Market in Beichuan County was one of the hardest-hit areas, having been completely crushed by buildings that shifted during the earthquake. Several rows of buildings before and after it had also vanished without a trace.
Xiang Shiying, 42 years old, happened to be on another street at the time and narrowly escaped. However, his wife who was minding the shop would never come out again. As of this morning, Xiang Shiying still refused to leave Beichuan.
Beichuan County is the country's only Qiang Autonomous County, once famous for its beautiful mountains and clear waters, but now looks unbearable.
Near the county town, at a place locally known as "Three Bends," the reporter saw that the road looked as if it had been forcibly broken at both ends, completely twisting and deforming into a "pretzel," with a height difference of four to five meters from its original horizontal position. From here to the direction of the county town, countless landslides and collapses covered the entire road, and huge boulders eight or nine meters high blocked the way. Rescuers and escapees could only crawl among the giant rocks.