Premier Wen arrives in Guangyuan to direct relief work

Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Guangyuan City in Sichuan Province this morning. He then took the train to Qingchuan County, one of the worst-hit areas of Guangyuan, to oversee rescue work and visit survivors.

Yesterday, the premier was in the provincial capital Chengdu, after visiting Yingxiu township at the epicenter in Wenchuan County. And late last night, Premier Wen Jiabao ordered 90 more helicopters for rescue missions.

The premier ordered the additional copters at the national quake relief headquarters on a train out of Chengdu, bound for Guangyuan.

The air force will deploy 60 more helicopters and the civil aviation industry will provide the other 30.

Premier Wen Jiabao reminded everyone that saving lives is still the top priority.

The meeting also decided to mobilize 30,000 more troops, raising the total number of PLA soldiers and armed police involved in the rescue work to 100,000.

More than 16 thousand policemen are already taking part.

Before the Premier leaving for Chengdu, he'd been overseeing rescue work in the counties of Beichuan and the worst-hit Wenchuan.

Beichuan county neighbors the epicenter of the massive quake. It was savaged on Monday.

2000 students were in class at this middle school when the quake struck.

Rescuers pulled 300 survivors from the rubble of 2 of the teaching buildings.

Premier Wen Jiabao ordered the workers to continue making all-out efforts.

Wen Jiabao, Chinese Premier said "Saving lives is the key of our rescue work. We must dispatch rescuers to every affected county, village and scene. You must use the right methods in your work and make sure you have the right equipment."

The Premier then visited Beichuan's survivors.

Wen Jiabao said "My fellow countrymen, the government cares about your plight. Your pain is our pain as well. We must remain confident of overcoming the disaster when confronting it. We must do a good job in disaster-relief. You take good care of your children. Put your lives back in order and make plans for your future. So long as there is life, we can rebuild our home again."

As he left Beichuan, Premier Wen Jiabao met a volunteer team from the United States. They are members of "Heart to Heart International." Wen Jiabao expressed his gratitude.

Wen Jiabao said "First of all, on behalf of the Chinese government, I appreciate the support from the government and people of the United States. The earthquake has caused severe losses, but the Chinese government has organized relief work with all efforts."

Wen Jiabao also briefed the American volunteers on the overall rescue work.

Brian Robinson, China Rep. of HTH International said "We hope to cooperate with the government in our efforts. Local people have been severely hit by the quake. We want to cooperate in an organized and coordinated manner."

Wen Jiabao then left Beichuan for Wenchuan on Wednesday afternoon.

He went to see survivors and the injured as soon as he landed at the epicenter. He promised the government will do everything it can to save lives and help the devastated town recover.

Wen Jiabao said "Wenchuan is not forgotten by the central government. We will rescue all the survivors. If roads are blocked, we will use planes to take the injured to treatment. We're doing our best to get more planes. We evacuated over 50 injured people this morning. We will continue our efforts to save more lives. And we are trying to repair all the damaged highways to help rebuilding the area. "

Rescue teams and military personnel are now deployed in all the earthquake-affected areas.