China mourns as death toll rises

China today began three days of mourning with a nationwide silence at 2.28pm (7.28am BST), precisely one week after the 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck.
It coincided with an announcement that the official death toll had risen to 34,000 and news that 200 rescue workers had been buried by a number of mudslides over the past three days in Sichuan province.
Air raid sirens and horns of vehicles, trains and ships marked the end of the three-minute silence and national flags flew at half-mast across the country and at Chinese embassies worldwide.
All internet entertainment and game sites have been taken offline and users redirected to sites dedicated to commemorating earthquake victims, the Chinese news website sina.com reported.
Beijing Olympic organisers said the torch relay - due to reach Sichuan next month – would be suspended for three days "to express our deep mourning to the victims of the earthquake".
The confirmed death toll from the quake rose to 34,073 and the council - China's cabinet - said 220,109 people were injured.
Officials said the final death toll was expected to top 50,000.Rescue work has been hampered by a series of aftershocks and landslides.
The state news agency, Xinhua, quoting a Sichuan provincial official, said workers had been buried by mudslides while repairing damaged roads.
The official gave no death toll but said three of incidents took place in Yingxiu, close to the epicentre.
Rescue attempts elsewhere were given impetus by the freeing of a handful of survivors.
For further details, please go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/19/china.chinaearthquake

I find myself very useless as i was worrying of myself these few days. Instead after watching the video about sichuan earthquake that i have just downloaded, i really think that my problem was not a big deal as compared to them.
They had lost their house, most importantly they might have lost their loves one. Children might have lost their parents, becoming the orphans. People who managed to survive may become immobile as a result of severe injuries. Even if they managed to run away from the disaster, they have so much problems in hands. Where to find shelter? Where to find food? Where to find water? Lastly, where to find their family? I do not what i can do to help them at this moment. But i do hope metta radiation would work this time. I sincerely wish them from the bottom of my heart:
May they be well and happy...
May they be free from physical and mental sufferings...
May they be calm and peaceful...
sadhu...