More than 110,000 troops work quake relief

BEIJING, May 18 (UPI) -- China, facing a rising earthquake death toll and fading hopes for trapped survivors, is pressing on with its massive relief efforts under trying conditions.

The latest to be rescued, however, was a woman pulled from the rubble of a collapsed power plant in the quake's epicenter of Wenchuan County after being trapped more than 150 hours.

By Monday, the government had brought in more than 113,000 troops and police to assist the thousands of relief workers in the quake-hit southwest Sichuan province where the official death toll as of Sunday was put at 32,476, Xinhua reported.

The BBC reported more than 10,000 victims were believed to still be trapped in rubble. As many as 4.8 million people are homeless.

The government said the armed forces had pulled 21,566 people both dead and alive from the debris, treated 34,051 injured and transported 205,370 people to safety. Quilts, food, medicine and tents weighing 780,000 tons had been distributed.

All nuclear facilities in the disaster area were reported to be safe and secure.

The China Seismological Bureau Sunday revised the magnitude of the earthquake to 8 on the Richter scale from 7.8 previously announced based on new "real-time measurements."

The country began a three-day national mourning Monday.

County.

CNN reported about 60 aid organizations from 13 countries are assisting in the relief effort. Two U.S. military planes loaded with supplies landed Sunday in Chengdu.