Catshanghai

Reports are emerging on international news sites that the death toll from yesterday’s Sichuan earthquake is 10 000 and rising.

Al Jazeera’s English site reported that there was extensive damage in the epicentre of Wenchuan County and surrounding areas.

The toll is expected to rise sharply as authorities and rescue teams make contact with the worst-hit areas of Sichuan.

Nearly 900 students might have been buried under the rubble, Xinhua news agency reported.

In Shifeng, two chemical plants were damaged, burying hundreds of people and forcing the evacuation of more than 6,000 others.

Rescuers are trying to locate survivors.

State media reported casualties in the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan as well as Chongqing, a municipality of 30 million people that neighbours Sichuan.

Buildings toppled in at least six counties near Wenchuan, Xinhua said.

About 80 per cent of buildings in Beichun county have collapsed, and about 10,000 people are believed to be injured there.

Similar stories have been published on news networks, including the BBC, New York Times and CNN.

Shanghaiist has been updating its site and publishing tweets several times an hour as new information becomes available. They cited a terrifying estimate from a Colarado geologist, Roger Bilham that the final death toll may be as high as 150 000 (Source: Rocky Mountain News).

Yesterday, I wrote a post about the immediacy of Twitter as a tool for breaking big news stories. We have also seen a number of videos and photos documenting the event, including this footage from a Sichuan university dorm.

Expect to see these sites carry diy footage of damage, survivor stories and tv news reports and as they get published on the Internet.

Let’s wish local services and relief agencies every success with their rescue efforts.