China raised the number of dead or missing from a devastating earthquake to more than 70,000 on Tuesday, as rescuers found another survivor eight days after the huge tremor hit.

5 mln homeless after quake - 20 / 05 / 2008 16:12

A government statement said the number killed had now topped 40,000, and state news agency Xinhua reported that a further 32,000 were missing.

China also said it was struggling to find shelter for many of the five million people whose homes were destroyed.

Authorities had previously said they expected the final death toll to exceed 50,000.

More than 247,000 were injured. In Wenchuan county, epicenter of the May 12 quake in mountainous Sichuan province, rescuers found a man alive after 179 hours buried in the rubble, state media said.

 Ma Yuanjiang, 31, a power plant executive, spoke after he was rescued, but his body was "as fragile as that of a newborn baby," Chongqing Xinqiao hospital president Wang Weidong said.

"The next 12 hours are crucial for Ma's survival. The patient finished the first half of a life miracle, now we are trying to do the second," Xinhua quoted Wang as saying.

A resident washes bowls after lunch beside her collapsed house in the village of Renhe near Shifang city west of Chengdu, Sichuan province, May 20, 2008.

His rescue came as authorities tried to restore calm in the provincial capital, Chengdu, after tens of thousands rushed into the streets overnight alarmed by a television prediction of another powerful earthquake.

But as darkness fell over Chengdu on Tuesday thousands of residents prepared makeshift shelters to sleep outside, too afraid to stay overnight in their homes.

That, along with fresh aftershocks and forecast heavy rain, compounded the difficulties for military, government and private workers trying to ensure millions of homeless are fed and housed.

Anger was building among bereaved parents in Sichuan over the way many school buildings had collapsed, burying whole classrooms full of children.

The rubble of a collapsed building is seen in front of other damaged buildings in the quake-hit township of Hanwang in Mianzhu city north of Chengdu in Sichuan Province

 In one town, in a rare public protest, hundreds demanded punishment for anyone guilty of shoddy construction.

Chengdu residents rushed from their homes before midnight on Monday, alarmed by the prediction of another earthquake after the 7.9 magnitude tremor on May 12.

Hundreds of aftershocks have been felt over the past week, bringing down more buildings and causing landslides. A few hours after the television report, a 5-magnitude tremor was felt.

Reuters / AP