China Quake: Digging out of the rubble

An earthquake survivor leads family members to the building where her child died. Ten of their relatives were killed in the earthquake that struck Sichuan province in China on May 12. Thousands of people remain buried in collapsed buildings from the 7.9 quake, the nation’s worst natural disaster in three decades. The government has raised the death toll to more than 67,000.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Earthquake survivors mourn the deaths of 10 family members who were killed in the Chinese earthquake. Thousands of people remain buried in collapsed buildings from the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck May 12.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Search and rescue workers sift through rubble in Beichuan County, China.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Chinese soldiers retrieve a body from the rubble in Beichuan, China, and bring it to be buried in a mass grave.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

At the 903 Hospital in Jianguyo, China, doctors and nurses are overwhelmed by the devastation caused by the earthquake. They work around the clock to serve the influx of victims in addition to their everyday patients. Because the hospital building is no longer safe to be occupied, it has became somewhat of an open-air facility, with most of the patients living outside.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

An earthquake victim is moved at the outdoor facilities of the 903 Hospital in Jianguyo, China, Friday.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

A young earthquake victim with a broken leg watches a woman having her head stitched at the 903 Hospital in Jianguyo, China.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Thousands of earthquake victims are camped out at the Jiuzhou Stadium in Mianyang, China, on Friday.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

An injured child is comforted by his parents in his hospital bed at the 903 Hospital in Jianguyo, China, on Friday.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Four-year-old earthquake victim Zhang Jingi is comforted by his mother, Yang Baozhi, at a hospital in Jianguyo.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Family members look for lost loved ones on lists at the evacuee center of Jiuzhou Stadium in Mianyang, China, on Friday.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Yang Xiaohua, 30, left, and a relative react after the body of Yang’s aunt was discovered in the earthquake devastation in Hanwang, China.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Yang Xiaohua burns funeral money in honor of her aunt, whose body lies under the white sheet in front of her home in Hanwang, China, that was leveled by the earthquake.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

A body is wheeled away after being recovered from the collapse of Dongqi Middle School in Hanwang, China. In a now well-practiced routine, workers at the site place each body in a yellow bag, transfer it to a wheelbarrow and move it to a truck about a block away.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Quake survivors examine a body pulled from the rubble of Dongqi Middle School in Hanwang, China, to try to determine if it is one of their relatives.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

A family leaves the Dongqi Middle School site in Hanwang, China, where the search continues for students buried under the school building’s collapse.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Rescue workers in Hanwang, China, retrieve the body of another earthquake victim. Nearly 21,000 people remain missing more than two weeks after the quake struck Sichuan province on May 12.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Mothers, Father and Grandparents grieve the death of their small children who perished when their school, Fuxin @#2 Elementary School, in Fuxin, China collapsed during the earthquake. All that remains of the school is a shrine erected by the parent where reports say 128 children died.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Soldiers carry survivor on strecher as residents and rescue workers evacuate towards higher ground from the center of earthquake-hit Beichuan county, Sichuan province, May 17, 2008. A Chinese county near the epicenter of a 7.9 magnitude earthquake was ordered to evacuate on Saturday amid fears a lake had burst its banks, prompting thousands to flee to the hills to escape possible flooding.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)