By staff reporter Ouyang Hongliang

On May 13, one day after the earthquake rocked southwest China, I travel to the instant refugee town of Pengzhou, about 100 kilometers from the worst-hit Wenchuan County. Traffic is light. Devastated houses line the road. A funeral shed has been set up in a farm field. White flowers on a wreath wave in the wind.

(Losses are widspread)

At a roadway toll gate near Pengzhou, cars wait in a long queue. Most drivers and passengers are trying to rush to Pengzhou in hopes of finding relatives alive. But the road is blocked.

Survivors say that in Longmen County, 30 kilometers from Wenchuan, most of the brick and concrete buildings have been demolished. Only a few wooden houses still stand. Fortunately for many, the earthquake occurred in the afternoon, when most farmers were toiling in the fields. Their lives were spared. Unfortunately for others, local children died during afternoon classes when their schools collapsed.

Rescue efforts are limited to villagers staying close to the road. Those living deep in the mountains can't be reached yet because access paths were destroyed. Rain is increasing the risk of mudslides.

About 100,000 refugees squeeze into tents stretching across 2 kilometers in Pengzhou. Trucks arrive every now and then to deliver new loads of survivors and emergency supplies -- blankets, instant noodles and mineral water. 

(Scene of local damage)

Xie Liping, a farmer whose head is wrapped in bandages, told me he was inside his rural home when he first felt the quake. He sprinted toward the door, but bricks falling from the collapsing house hit him on the head. Xie said he saw dozens of corpses on the way while being escorted by a rescue team to Pengzhou.
   
Now few seem shocked in Pengzhou. Local residents have taken shelter in the streets. Some are playing the popular Chinese game majiang in their tents.

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