国内英语新闻:Relief in focus as hope for missing fades

BAOXING, Sichuan, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese rescuers are shifting their focus from rescue to relief but still hoped to find survivors on Monday night, nearly three days after a powerful earthquake hit southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Rescuers in some villages of the earthquake-vulnerable province have been racing against the ticking "critical first 72 hours" to hunt for the 23 missing as of 7 p.m.. The death toll from the 7.0-magnitude quake climbed to 192 on Monday night.

No major progress had been reported as of 9:30 p.m. by rescuers, who were combing through quake rubble in Lushan and Baoxing, both the worst-hit counties in Sichuan. But officials said the search is poised to continue.

"It will not end as long as there is a ray of hope," according to a Monday statement from the press center of the rescue and relief headquarters based at the epicenter of Lushan.

Sources with the center said the death toll is not expected to rise drastically like it did five years ago, when an even stronger earthquake hit Sichuan, leaving more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

The reasons they cited included less seismic intensity and much fewer collapsed houses.