Flood fears ease after thousands evacuate

Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said 28,881 deaths have been confirmed so far as the death toll continued climbing toward an expected final tally of at least 50,000.

The official Xinhua News Agency, citing regional officials, said more than 10,600 people were known to be still buried nearly a week after quake shattered tens of thousands of buildings in dozens of towns and cities in Sichuan.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has urged rescue teams to reach remote villages battered by the earthquake, according to Xinhua. He said the situation in many of them remained unclear.

That was reinforced by a group of about 15 people who surrounded an Associated Press reporter at a gasoline station in Miangyang city Sunday, appealing for help for their village, Xiushui.

"The government is doing nothing to help us," said one man who identified himself only by his surname, Chen. "If I gave you my complete name the government would track me down."

He said Xiushui was about 12 miles from Mianyang, which is north of Chengdu. Chen did not say how many people lived there, handing over a note which said it had been signed "by the people of Xiushui."

"Please go to our village of Xiushui to cover the situation. The government is doing nothing to help us get water or housing," the note said.

Foreign rescuers join effort
More than 200 rescuers from Japan, Russia, South Korea and Singapore have been searching alongside Chinese soldiers.

Xinhua said Russian rescuers found a 61-year-old woman alive late Saturday after she was buried for 127 hours — the first survivor discovered by foreign rescuers.

"I express heartfelt thanks to the foreign governments and international friends that have contributed to our quake relief work," Chinese President Hu Jintao was quoted as saying by Xinhua Sunday.

More international aid was arriving, with a U.S. Air Force cargo plane loaded with tents, lanterns and 15,000 meals landing Sunday in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu.

"We are extending the helping hand of a friend to you in the aftermath of this terrible earthquake," U.S. Gen. Charles Hooper said in Chengdu.

The number of security forces helping victims rose to almost 150,000, and the government added cash payments $715 to each family that lost a member to its response.

More tales of rescue
At least seven other survivors were pulled from collapsed buildings, one of them a man whose legs had to be amputated. Another, 20-year-old highway worker Jiang Yuhang was pulled free shortly after his mother arrived from a neighboring province.

"I was expecting to see my son's body. I never expected to see him alive," his mother, Long Jinyu, said on state television.

Experts say buried earthquake survivors can last a week or more, depending on factors including the temperature and whether they have water to drink, but that the chances of survival diminish rapidly after the first 24 hours.

Nearly a week after the quake, soldiers who first arrived with little but shovels were better supplied. In the town of Longhua, rescuers worked through the day, using saws, drills, torches and hands, to free 31-year-old Bian Gengfeng from the wreckage of a six-story apartment building.

A man rescued from the same site Friday told rescuers that he had been talking with a woman still trapped, setting off Saturday's effort.

"Uncle called me yesterday and said 'mom was alive' and I should come and wait here," said 10-year-old Luo Ting, who watched her mother being rescued.

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