AT least 100 British tourists in the earthquake-hit region of China have been contacted and all are safe, it was announced today.
But the Foreign Office FO and UK travel organisation Abta were still trying to track down any other British travellers who were in the Sichuan province devastated by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that has claimed at least 12,000 lives.
Abta said th
at information from its holiday company members so far contacted showed that these tour firms had around 100 clients in Sichuan region – many of them visiting giant panda areas.
Abta spokesman Sean Tipton said: "All these 100 people are safe and they are not in any danger."
The news from Abta came as aftershocks hit Sichuan as teams continued rescue work over a wide area.
The FO has advised against all but essential travel to Sichuan province. A spokeswoman said today: "We have no confirmed reports of any Britons being hurt in the earthquake."
The FO has been unable to confirm a report from China's Xinhua News Agency that a group of 15 British tourists "were out of reach on Tuesday morning in Wenchuan", the epicentre of the earthquake. A telephone number has now been set up by the FO for people to contact if they think their loved ones may have been involved in the disaster – 0086 105 192 4499.
Mr Tipton said one of the main reasons for people visiting the earthquake-hit region was to see giant pandas. He went on: "There are people due to go out there in the next few days and obviously they will not be travelling there now."
He said Britons made a total of 320,000 visits to China last year, while around 310,000 trips were made in 2006.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband pledged to help China deal with the devastation wrought by the earthquake.
He added it was "a further and tragic shock to a region already trying to handle the devastation in Burma".
Mr Miliband said: "Emerging news of the loss of life and devastation in China is deeply saddening. My thoughts are with the Chinese people and those families who have suffered loss. The Chinese government are to be commended for their quick and efficient response."
A Beijing-based charity worker earlier predicted that the death toll would rise.
Dale Rutstein, of Unicef China, said he had only been able to get limited reports from the epicentre of the disaster in Sichuan province.
He said: "I would expect the death toll to rise as Sichuan is one of the most populated provinces and one of the poorest.
"There are a lot of people living in marginal areas that are difficult to get to and a lot of the buildings in those areas are sub-standard and could collapse very quickly."
Mr Rutstein added that the death toll in the province's capital city, Chengdu, could be kept down by the construction boom it is currently experiencing.
He said: "Chengdu is 57 miles from the epicentre and we are 930 miles away in Beijing and we felt it.
"There are 10 million people there but the amount of construction means there is a lot of new buildings which will be built to a better standard so they may survive. I would imagine the outlying areas would be hit worse."
•
The number to check on people who may be affected by the earthquake is 0086 105 192 4499.The full article contains 584 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
