Quake-hit Sichuan warns too much help can hurt

By Ben Blanchard

MIANYANG, China (Reuters) - Young Chinese rushing to help earthquake victims may do more harm than good, as unequipped volunteers impede rescue work, block roads and in some cases become victims themselves.

So far 20,000 people are confirmed dead, and the death toll could rise to 50,000, after a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck a rainy, mountainous region of Sichuan province on Monday.

Taxis, private cars and volunteers on foot have been streaming from the provincial capital, Chengdu, and other cities which have not been as badly affected, to devastated areas to the north.

"Passionate but inexperienced volunteers have brought little food and their vehicles are blocking roads," the Chengdu chapter of the Communist Youth League said in a message asking volunteers not to "swarm" to disaster areas that was read on Sichuan television on Thursday.

Heaps of clothes are piling up outside the sports stadium that has turned into a refugee camp for Mianyang, a city of 5 million. About 8,000 people have died in the surrounding area.

Police controlling who may enter the stadium have little trouble distinguishing between tattered and distraught survivors trucked in from surrounding towns, and clean, well-dressed visitors from Chengdu or Mianyang city itself.

In Dujiangyan, another city hard hit by the quake, many people have rushed to help -- and gawk.

"We're volunteers," said one youth, watching rescue efforts around a collapsed school, though he could not explain exactly what it was he was planning to do.

"200 people have died here, you know," he adds, before turning back with his friends to watch the unfolding rescue action.

State radio has also appealed for people not to rush blindly to quake-hit zones, creating traffic jams which have hampered efforts to get ambulances, cranes, fire engines and the injured either in or out.

"Please think carefully before heading out the door," presenters say, requesting that donations be made to official groups like the Red Cross.

Rescuers' work is complicated by crowds that rush to help as soon as they hear a survivor is about to be extracted from the rubble. Meanwhile, the sheer scope of the disaster, and the difficulty of reaching many remote villages, mean that many areas are still desperate for aid.

Still, the roads into the disaster areas are full of private cars, many with hand-written "disaster relief" banners on their fronts or sides. One large, army-style truck sported a banner proclaiming "Gift from the CEO to the disaster victims".

Highway toll-takers are waiving fees for those that are full to bursting with bottles of water, soft drinks, instant noodles and clothes.

But many cars don't appear to be part of any organized group and their drivers seem unsure what to with their donations.