Chen Xiuzhen, right, and a relative, Xi Yunzhen, washed at a refugee relief center in Yuejin, where tight quarters offered little privacy.

HOWARD W. FRENCH

Published: May 25, 2008

CHENGDU, China — The secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, flew to the heart of China’s earthquake zone in Sichuan Province on Saturday to praise the nation’s response to the disaster and pledge his organization’s support.

Mr. Ban met in Yingxiu, one of the towns hardest hit by the earthquake, with the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao. “If we work hard, we can overcome this,” Mr. Ban said with Mr. Wen standing by his side. “The whole world stands behind you and supports you.”

The State Council, China’s cabinet, has placed the confirmed death toll at 60,560 from the May 12 earthquake and counted 26,221 more people as missing. But on Saturday, Mr. Wen said the death toll “may further climb to a level of 70,000, 80,000 or more.”

 

The Chinese authorities said they were making an all-out push to rescue 24 coal miners trapped underground by the earthquake nearly two weeks ago. Mr. Wen, however, gave the clearest indication to date that China had largely concluded its effort to find survivors amid the rubble of towns that lie flattened throughout the earthquake zone. “Previously our main priority was the search and rescue of affected people,” Mr. Wen said. “Our priority now is to resettle the affected people, and to make plans for the post-quake reconstruction.”

China is struggling to cope with the immediate crisis, which is to provide temporary shelter to an estimated five million people left homeless by the earthquake. Beijing has made an emergency appeal to other provinces to provide tents for the large numbers of people whose homes have been destroyed and who have no other shelter.

China has also created a sort of adoption program in which other provinces have been designated to provide financial and material support for the reconstruction of counties in Sichuan Province that were devastated by the quake.

Mr. Ban, the United Nations leader, visited Sichuan immediately after visiting Myanmar, where some 130,000 people were left dead or missing by a cyclone on May 3, and his actions and comments seemed to invite comparisons between the responses of the two countries.

During his visit to Myanmar, Mr. Ban was able to secure a promise from the authorities there to allow foreign aid workers into the country, but this comes weeks into the crisis.

“The Chinese government, at the early stage of this natural disaster, has invested strenuous effort and demonstrated extraordinary leadership,” Mr. Ban told reporters in Yingxiu, according to Reuters. He added: “I’m coming from my visit to Myanmar, where 130,000 people were killed or missing. It was very humbling and very tragic.”

Speaking later during his flight out of China, Mr. Ban was asked if his praise of China was intended as a message to Myanmar’s leaders. “You may have your own interpretation,” he replied, according to Reuters. “I just wanted to talk about the facts.”