World Breaking News

Chinese military drop food, medicine to quake-hit areas HANWANG: Military helicopters dropped food and medicine to Chinese earthquake survivors in remote mountain villages who remained cut off Wednesday behind roads clogged by landslides. The official death toll from the magnitude-7.9 quake that hit central China on Monday rose to nearly 15,000. The official news agency quoted government officials assaying rescuers who hiked Wednesday into the city of Yingxiu in Wenchuan County, the epicenter of the quake _ found it ``much worse than expected.'' Of the town's population of about 10,000, only 2,300 survived, and 1,000 of them were badly hurt. The survivors ``desperately needed medical help, food and water,'' agency said.