Deserted and destroyed, China quake town awaits help

By Ben Blanchard

YONGAN, China (Reuters) - Yongan has become a ghost town. Its residents are either dead, evacuated, or camping out in the local school yard. Just a few kilometres (miles) south of Beichuan, where state media have reported thousands of deaths from Monday's massive earthquake in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, Yongan has been almost totally destroyed.

"It was the most frightening experience of my life," said Li Hui, carting what remains of his possessions down one of the town's streets, strewn with rubble and bricks.

"Dozens died, but it could have been a lot worse. Fortunately it hit in the afternoon when many people were outside."

Now, with the streets eerily quiet, those who remain are desperately hoping for aid, which they can see speeding past them on the road up to Beichuan.

"I haven't eaten in two days," grumbled Ding Xiuyong, following behind Li, her hair matter with dirt. "Aid has not yet started to reach us. It's all going to Beichuan first."

Power lines strung through the picturesque and towering mountains that surround the area are still standing, though some substations have been destroyed and there is no power.

Landslides partially block roads, and huge rocks cleaved off the hillside have sliced through a wing of a Daoist temple close by.

Wandering through Yongan, the destructive power of the quake is everywhere to be seen, as well as evidence of how it hit suddenly and caught people off guard.