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'Times' Reporter in China: Grim Scene Near Epicenter

In China, rescue workers have been digging through flattened homes and schools in a desperate search for victims of China's worst earthquake in three decades. Chinese authorities say nearly 12,000 people were killed and more than 18,000 are missing.

Co-host Renee Montagne talks to Mark Magnier, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, for the latest developments near the epicenter.

Magnier says there is no power, and dozens of people are living in tents along the roads and in traffic circles. A severely damaged hospital had to move all of its patients into the courtyard, where they spent the night in the cold. "It's, um, pretty bleak," he says.

He says at one collapsed school Monday, about 20 percent of people being pulled from the rubble were alive, but almost no survivors were found Tuesday. "With each passing hour, it's getting more and more difficult," he says.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.