This is not a natural disaster - this is done by humans

Tenderly, she eased the clean fleece over her little boy\\\\\\\'s hand and up around his plump shoulder. He didn\\\\\\\'t look alarmed or frightened, but dirt and blood were caked on his forehead. She touched his hair and then they pulled up the zipper on the body bag and carried him away.

Only her husband marked her howls. The whole street was seething with misery and anger. She had seen her son, at least; most of the children still lay in the rubble of Xinjian elementary school.

Four hundred and fifty pupils, aged between just six and 12, were here when the quake hit yesterday at 2.28pm. A fortunate few were pulled out within hours by anxious parents scrabbling at the wreckage with bare hands. A handful more were saved overnight, after troops arrived to take over the rescue effort. Doctors were unsure how many had been rushed to hospital - perhaps 15, perhaps 50. What was certain was that hundreds more remained trapped and that hope was ebbing by the moment.

\\\\\\\"There\\\\\\\'s a slight chance they could save a few more now; probably not very
many,\\\\\\\" said a white-coated doctor.

Even the medics were raw-eyed and anxious. The sobs, wails and shouting
were mixed with sirens and the steady patter of rain. Under bright umbrellas,
parents and relatives stood in whatever they grabbed when the shock hit:
dressing gowns, slippers, straw hats. Some bore the bruises and scars of
the previous day.

One man showed his raw, filthy hands. He didn\\\\\\\'t want to give his name but
said his 12-year-old son Futian still lay in the wreckage. \\\\\\\"Before the troops came we found more than 10 people. I saved two students and one teacher but I didn\\\\\\\'t get my own child out,\\\\\\\" he said.

\\\\\\\"I\\\\\\\'m already 39 and he\\\\\\\'s 44. We had only one child. Why should I live on now?\\\\\\\" demanded his wife.

Like many parents here, their mood was turning from raw grief to fury as they waited for further news. Twenty-four hours after the quake hit, they were losing hope and only rage was left. They blamed everyone: soldiers for coming too late, the builders for cutting corners, officials for – they claimed - siphoning off cash.

\\\\\\\"The contractors can\\\\\\\'t have been qualified. It\\\\\\\'s a \\\\\\\'tofu\\\\\\\' [soft and shoddy] building. Please, help us release this news,\\\\\\\" the husband said.

\\\\\\\"About 450 were inside, in nine classes and it collapsed completely from the top to the ground. It didn\\\\\\\'t fall over; it was almost like an explosion.\\\\\\\"

The distraught couple\\\\\\\'s neighbour, still half-hoping for a sight of her daughter, burst out angrily: \\\\\\\"Why isn\\\\\\\'t there money to build a good school for our kids? Chinese officials are too corrupt and bad.

\\\\\\\"These buildings outside have been here for 20 years and didn\\\\\\\'t collapse - the school was only 10 years old. They took the money from investment, so they took the lives of hundreds of kids. They have money for prostitutes and second wives but they don\\\\\\\'t have money for our children. This is not a natural disaster - this is done by humans.\\\\\\\"

Intravenous drips, cigarette butts and scraps of children\\\\\\\'s clothes were trodden underfoot as families surged forward, trying to force their way through the lines of paramilitary police and troops guarding the site.

\\\\\\\"They haven\\\\\\\'t told us anything. They won\\\\\\\'t even let us see the place now,\\\\\\\" spat out one mother, trying not to cry. A man with a red umbrella paused to watch the scene. \\\\\\\"My neighbours had two kids here,\\\\\\\" he said quietly.

\\\\\\\"One was on the first floor and ran out when the earthquake happened, but was hit by a falling brick and died. The other one is still in there.\\\\\\\"

Despite criticism from parents whose children were trapped in the rubble, a massive relief effort was under way across Sichuan.

Residents of Dujiangyan know that other places were even worse affected. Most of the buildings in the town are still standing but no one dared to enter them, and many bore long cracks down their sides. Tiles and glass lay smashed in the streets and concrete balconies dangled.

The squares and roadsides were packed with residents huddling under tarpaulin, carpets and anything else they could salvage. Too scared to go back into their homes, they had spent the night in the open.

As the day wore on, a mass exodus began. People clustered by the roadside to hitch lifts, wait hopefully for buses or simply tramp along the long road to Chengdu in the hope of finding shelter. Those without umbrellas had covered their heads with plastic bags, towels and books in a vain attempt to stay dry. Some held bulging cloth bundles or backpacks; others had fled without anything. A woman with a cast on her left arm struggled along in improbable heels, while another had only a huge blue teddy bear for luggage.

Around them, the plate glass windows of hotels had shattered; Adidas shoeboxes spilled out of a collapsing store. Dummies sprawled across shop windows, expensive sunglasses askew.

Dujianyang was a thriving town until yesterday, and the debris hinted at its previously prospering life. Now, all anyone wanted was to find safety and find those they loved.

Not far from Xinjian school, at the Long Tan Wan housing compound, a young couple stared dazed at the remains of their apartment block: a pitiless jumble of tin basins, curtains, books, chairs, slabs of concrete and the twisted metal that used to be window frames.

Their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Xixi was somewhere inside. Her father drew the back of his hand across his eyes.

\\\\\\\"I tried to get to her myself, but it all started falling down and I couldn\\\\\\\'t carry on,\\\\\\\" he said.

\\\\\\\"I called the police, but they wouldn\\\\\\\'t come. They said they had bigger disasters.\\\\\\\"

英国卫报记者在地震灾区所见

轻轻地，她清理着小男孩手上和肩膀周围的异物。他看起来既不紧张也不恐惧，只是泥和血混在一起，遮住了他的脸颊。她抚摸着他的头发，之后，他们把他放进死尸袋，拉上拉链，运走。

只有她的丈夫在安慰这个哭泣的女人。整条街上人们的情绪因为悲痛和愤怒而变得激动。至少她还看到了她的儿子，此时大多数的孩子还埋在新津小学的废墟之下。

在昨天下午2：28分地震发生时，450名年龄在6到12岁之间的小学生就在此地。少数的幸运的孩子被担心的父母不顾疼痛，徒手扒了出来。少数在军队抵达并采取营救措施以后在当天晚上被救出。医生们已经搞不清到底有多少孩子被送到医院来了。也许是15，也许是50。他们唯一清楚的是，现在仍然有数百人被困废墟，而且他们获救的希望正逐渐变得渺茫。

“现在，他们没有什么可能再去救多少人了；或者说，能救的人数也不会太多。”一位戴着口罩的医生这样说。

即使医护人员也是眼睛红肿，心情焦虑。哽咽，哀号和高喊声混杂在警笛声和持续的雨中。艳色艳丽的伞下，父母们和亲戚抱着他们在地震到来时从屋中抢出来的东西：睡衣，拖鞋，草帽。一些人的身上还带着瘀青或前一天留下的伤痕。

一个男子向我展示了他脏而且慢是伤痕的双手。他不愿意向我透露姓名，说，即便如此，他的12岁的儿子仍然遇难了。“在部队赶来之前，我们救出了10多个人。我救出了两个学生和一个老师，但是我没有找到我的孩子。”他说。

“我已经39岁了，而他已经44了，我们只有一个孩子，让我怎么活呀！”他的妻子说。

像在那里的很多父母一样，在他们等待进一步消息的过程中，他们的情绪由最初的悲伤转成了愤怒。在地震过去了24小时以后，他们正逐渐失去希望，变得愤怒。他们责怪每一个人：士兵来得太晚，建筑质量不过关，官员们――这是他们说的――忙于腐败。

“建筑工程不合格，这是豆腐渣工程，请帮我们报道这件事。”丈夫说。


“一栋450人，九个教室的建筑从头到底直接塌下来。它不是倒了，而是像被爆破一样塌了。”

这对夫妇愤怒的邻居对自己女儿的生还抱有一丝希望，愤怒地大喊：“为什么没有钱为我们的孩子建一所好学校？政府的官员太腐败了，简直是混蛋！”

“那些将近20年的建筑都没有倒塌，而这个学校才建了10年。他们（译者注：指官员）从中贪污，所以，是他们害死了这些孩子。他们有钱嫖娼有钱包二奶却没钱给我们的孩子建楼。这不是天灾，这是人祸。”

脚踩着静点管，烟头和孩子们的碎衣服，孩子们家人组成的队伍奔涌着向前，他们试图要在挡在他们面前的武警部队和军队打出一个缺口，前往那个埋着他们孩子的地点。


“他们什么也不告诉我们。他们现在甚至于不让我们看那个地方，”一位母亲吵着说，她试图忍住自己的泪水。一个撑着红伞的男子停在一旁观看着这一幕。“我的邻居们中，有两户的孩子还在这里面。”他静静地说。


“其中一个在地震发生时在一楼，被落下的砖头砸中而死，另一个还被埋在里面。”


尽管受困儿童的父母指责不断，但是全省范围内减灾的努力的确卓著。

都江堰的居民知道，其他的地区所受破坏更大。城中多数的建筑依然矗立着，但是没人敢进去，这些建筑很多都出现了裂痕。因为混凝土建筑摇摆而碎落的瓦片和玻璃撒满街道。

角落和路边挤满了那些躲在油毡纸，地毯或者任何能当作遮身之物东西下面的居民。因为害怕回到家中，他们晚上就睡在外面。


随着时间的流逝，大规模的迁徙开始了。人们聚在路边上试图搭便车，买怀期待地等待客车或者干脆干脆走到成都去，去那里找一个栖身之所。那些没有雨伞的人用塑料袋，毛巾，书遮住他们的头，尽管这种试图不被淋到的方法显得那么徒劳。他们中有些人带着包裹或背包，有些人则什么也没有。一个妇女背着与自己完全不成比例的大包，而另一个只是带着一个大大的玩具熊。

他们的周围，宾馆的大玻璃已经变得粉碎，ADDIDAS鞋店已经变成了一片废墟。商店里的模特倒在橱窗中，昂贵的太阳眼镜斜斜地挂在他脸上。


直到昨天之前，都江堰还是一个繁荣的城镇，但是这些碎片却在告诉我们，它的繁荣已经成为了过去。现在，所有人想做的都只不过是找一个安全的地方和找到他们所爱的人。

新津学校不远的地方，龙潭湾（音译）小区中，一对年轻的夫妇开着他们曾经的房子发呆：变形的锡盆，窗帘，书，椅子，混凝土板和曾经是窗框的金属。


他们一岁半的女儿西西（音译）就在里面。她的父亲抹着眼泪。


“我试图自己把她救出来，但是塌陷却突然开始了。我却什么都做不了。”他说。

“我报了警，但是没有用，他们说他们有灾情更严重的地方要去抢救。”

为灾区人民祝福