A strong aftershock jolted Yingxiu Town in the epicenter of Wenchuan County on the morning of May 14.

Rocks rolled down from the hills and some dilapidated houses, already damaged by the main earthquake, collapsed completely, according to an on-the-spot reporter from Xinhua News Agency.

Traffic disruption caused by the earthquake was particularly serious because most of the devastated areas are mountainous. This hindered the transportation of rescue workers, medicine, water, food and digging vehicles that were badly needed in the quake-hit regions. The earthquake closed several major highways, including expressways to Wenchuan that were struck by rocks rolling off the mountains during the earthquake. The army was clearing rocks on the highways to the county headquarters of Wenchuan, three days after the earthquake.

Traffic was interrupted along several national and provincial highways through Aba, and landslides struck several highways in neighboring Shaanxi Province.

The first batch of 100 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army was parachuted soon after into the cut-off Maoxian County, northeast of the epicenter in Wenchuan. Disaster relief goods were airdropped to major quake-hit areas, including Wenchuan County and Mianzhu City.

The government had dispatched 110 helicopters from the armed forces and the civil aviation industry to quake-hit areas for reconnaissance, food and water airdrops, transporting injured people and delivering rescuers by May 15.

By May 15, military transporters and helicopters had taken 300 flights to transport or airdrop rescuers and relief supplies. As the prime time for rescuing survivors, 72 hours after the quake, passed, rescuers were desperate to find survivors. Sniffer dogs were also dispatched to the quake-hit areas to assist in search and rescue.

Heavy rain in the earthquake hit areas slowed down rescue work by hindering repair work on the power grid and telecommunication network, causing landslides and making the landing of rescue aircraft and parachutists impossible.

Communication failures to the outside world in the worst-hit counties in Sichuan due to damage to the cellphone network also added to the woes. Telecommunications cables connecting Wenchuan County with other parts of the country had been repaired by the afternoon of May 15.

Life larger than heaven

During Premier Wen's inspection of the rescue work in a middle school in Dujiangyan City, where over 100 students were buried in collapsed buildings, on the first night after the earthquake, he said, "Life is larger than heaven. As long as there is a slim hope, we will try our best to save everyone buried in the debris."

At a high-profile meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on May 14, President Hu Jintao stressed that saving lives should be taken as the top priority during quake relief.

Immediately after the earthquake, rescue and medical forces across the country were mobilized and quickly shipped to earthquake-devastated areas. Emergency response systems were quickly activated in various ministries.

Wang Yongping, Ministry of Railways spokesman, said at a press conference that the railways were used to ship in soldiers and relief aid. Of the 56 trains carrying 28,000 troops to quake-hit areas, 21 trains, or more than 10,000 soldiers, arrived before the morning of May 15.

A total of 844 railcars filled with relief materials were also en route, including 79,700 tents, 828,600 boxes of water, 18,870 pieces of medicine, and 351,100 cotton-padded coats and blankets, said Wang.

Also on the way were 157 railcars full of rescue machinery and ambulances, seven railcars of oil and 69 railcars of steel and other materials.

The ministry collected plenty of empty passenger cars, boxcars and container flatcars that are standing by for emergency use, Wang said.

"As far as I am concerned, this is the most efficient mobilization of the Central Government. Premier Wen arrived at the disaster areas in a matter of hours and the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held an overnight meeting to elaborate on the relief work. In less than a day, a large number of rescue workers had arrived in devastated areas," said Vice Minister of Health Gao Qiang. "It might be a miracle in the international history of disaster relief work."

Gao said at a press conference on May 15 that the Ministry of Health had sent 190 medical rescue teams from 18 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions totaling 1,755 people, and that there were rescue teams sent by governments of provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, totaling over 1,200 people.

China has allocated 400 million yuan ($57.1 million) from the central finance to the earthquake-hit areas for medical relief, said Gao.

Out of the figure, 200 million yuan ($28.6 million) would be used for the medical treatment of the injured, and the other 200 million yuan ($28.6 million) would be used to purchase emergency medicine and equipment, said Gao.

No epidemics had been reported in the regions struck by the earthquake, he added. He said to prevent any epidemic after the earthquake, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention had sent out a team of epidemic prevention experts to Sichuan, and a total of 144 epidemic experts from other provinces and municipalities were also working in the field with local staff.

He said qualified psychologists would join the medical staff teams sent to the quake-hit regions to help survivors traumatized by losing family members, and relatives and children scared during the quake.