Families fear for relatives in Chinese quake zone

May 15 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

RELATIVES of two Wirral women missing in the aftermath of the Chinese earthquake yesterday told of their worries as a Merseyside policeman joined a team searching for survivors.

Charity worker Liz Cullen, 46, and her friend Emily Hale, 66, arrived in Sichuan province on Monday for a 15-day conservation expedition visiting giant pandas.

But, just a day into their trip, the 7.9-strength earthquake devastated the area where they were staying.

The families of the pair were last night waiting at their homes in Eastham, Wirral, for news about their missing relatives, as Chinese authorities warned the death toll could eventually be more than 50,000.

Ms Cullen’s brother-in-law, Simon Wagener, said: “When we heard about the earthquake our hearts sank.

“Liz was staying very near the epicentre when it struck.

“We haven’t spoken to her since Sunday and obviously the whole family are beside themselves with worry but we are still remaining strong and positive.

“We’ve been frantically trying to find out news of her whereabouts but we’ve heard nothing.

“All we can do is wait, hope and pray that she comes home safe.”

Ms Cullen and her retired NHS worker friend, Mrs Hale, were planning to visit the Wolong Nature Reserve, the world’s biggest research and breeding centres for giant pandas.

Last night, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said it was working tirelessly to track down “a number” of UK citizens who remained out of contact.

Among those unaccounted for are 19 British holidaymakers who were on a visit to Wolong panda reserve, when the 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck on Monday.

The Travel Collection group were travelling with tour company Kuoni. UK travel organisation Abta said the Kuoni group were the only ones for whom there was no news.

Twelve Americans on a WWF trip to the reserve managed to borrow a satellite phone briefly to let the outside world know they were safe.

But a WWF spokesman said there were no other communica-tions functioning at Wolong, with mobile and land networks disrupted and the satellite network itself extremely busy.

Mrs Hale’s daughter, Christine Crawford, 38, was too upset to speak yesterday.

Her husband Graham, 40, said: “Chris is remaining confident her mum will turn up safe and well, but of course she’s worried.

“Everyone gets more anxious and worried as the hours go by without news, but we're all still very optimistic and hopeful she’ll be back home soon.” Meanwhile, police officer Ian McPhail, from Seaforth, is on his way to the worst affected area as part of a team from the International Rescue Corps.

The team of ten left for Hong Kong on Tuesday night and spent yesterday arranging visas to travel across the country, armed with equipment to probe rubble for survivors.

Press officer Julie Ryan said: “They are taking special equipment with them, things like a sound location device to hear people tapping, and a CO² analyser to detect people even if they are unconscious.

“They will stay there until the job is done and the search ended.”

vickyanderson