China has begun three days of mourning for the victims of the devastating earthquake in Sichuan province.

Flags are flying at half-mast and at 1428 (0628 GMT) a nationwide silence was observed to mark exactly a week since the earthquake struck.

The number of confirmed deaths now stands at 32,477, but officials say the final toll may reach 50,000. More than 220,000 people have been injured.

Meanwhile state media reported 200 aid workers had been buried by a mudslide.

The mourning comes as hopes fade of finding many more earthquake survivors.

On Monday, two more women were pulled from the rubble, but the focus of the relief effort is now shifting towards providing food, medical care and shelter for the millions of survivors of Monday's 7.9 magnitude earthquake.

Strong aftershocks are continuing to shake the region, hampering the rescue effort.

On Sunday, a tremor with a magnitude of 6.0 killed three people and injured 1,000 more in Jiangyou city, in Sichuan province's Mianyang County. Thousands ran from their homes into the streets in panic, reports said.

Continuing heavy rain in Sichuan is also raising fears of new flooding and landslides.

Trading halt

At a dawn ceremony in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, soldiers raised the national flag and then lowered it to half-mast to mark the start of official mourning.

All public entertainment has been cancelled and presenters on state television wore black.

At 1428, people across the country fell silent for three minutes as air-raid sirens and car horns sounded.

Trading at stock exchanges halted while the silence was observed.

China has also suspended the Olympic torch relay during the three-day mourning period.

On Sunday, Chinese President Hu Jintao expressed gratitude for the international help with relief efforts.

"I express heartfelt thanks to the foreign governments and international friends," Mr Hu was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Offers of help in the relief effort from home and abroad have now surpassed $860m (£440m), Chinese officials say.

The first aid supplied by the US has arrived, with an air force plane loaded with tents, lanterns and 15,000 meals landing in Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu.

But on its website, China's foreign ministry appealed to the international community for more tents, in what correspondents say is an indication of the magnitude of the problems faced in housing the homeless.

However, a British rescue team standing by in Hong Kong is returning home after being refused permission to travel to the earthquake zone.

There are still stories of survivors being pulled from the rubble.

A week on from the earthquake, an elderly woman was rescued in Beichuan county suffering from an infection and many broken bones, state media said, while another was extracted from a collapsed residential building in Deyang city.

But other stories illustrated how hopes for those still trapped are fading fast.

On Sunday, video pictures emerged of a man wedged under fallen masonry. He was still alive, and was lent a phone to speak to his wife.

"I don't hold out much hope of surviving," he told her.

Rescuers later managed to extract him, but not in time to save his life.

Persistent rain is compounding the misery for millions of people made homeless by the quake.

And the weather may deteriorate, with rains turning torrential later in the week, potentially triggering landslides, Chinese forecasters said.

On Sunday, the World Health Organization warned that rising temperatures in Sichuan, combined with a lack of clean water and waste disposal, and cramped conditions in makeshift camps, could lead to outbreaks of disease.

Courtesy: BBC News 

Published in : The News, World

Keywords : News, World, China mourns earthquake victims

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