记者：Howard W. French, New York Times

>>>沪江汶川地震专题

CHENGDU, China — The secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, flew to the heart of China’s earthquake zone in Sichuan Province on Saturday to praise the nation’s response to the disaster and pledge his organization’s support.

Mr. Ban met in Yingxiu, one of the towns hardest hit by the earthquake, with the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao. “If we work hard, we can overcome this,” Mr. Ban said with Mr. Wen standing by his side. “The whole world stands behind you and supports you.”

The State Council, China’s cabinet, has placed the confirmed death toll at 60,560 from the May 12 earthquake and counted 26,221 more people as missing. But on Saturday, Mr. Wen said the death toll “may further climb to a level of 70,000, 80,000 or more.”

The Chinese authorities said they were making an all-out push to rescue 24 coal miners trapped underground by the earthquake nearly two weeks ago. Mr. Wen, however, gave the clearest indication to date that China had largely concluded its effort to find survivors amid the rubble of towns that lie flattened throughout the earthquake zone. “Previously our main priority was the search and rescue of affected people,” Mr. Wen said. “Our priority now is to resettle the affected people, and to make plans for the post-quake reconstruction.”

China is struggling to cope with the immediate crisis, which is to provide temporary shelter to an estimated five million people left homeless by the earthquake. Beijing has made an emergency appeal to other provinces to provide tents for the large numbers of people whose homes have been destroyed and who have no other shelter.

China has also created a sort of adoption program in which other provinces have been designated to provide financial and material support for the reconstruction of counties in Sichuan Province that were devastated by the quake.

Mr. Ban, the United Nations leader, visited Sichuan immediately after visiting Myanmar, where some 130,000 people were left dead or missing by a cyclone on May 3, and his actions and comments seemed to invite comparisons between the responses of the two countries.

During his visit to Myanmar, Mr. Ban was able to secure a promise from the authorities there to allow foreign aid workers into the country, but this comes weeks into the crisis.

“The Chinese government, at the early stage of this natural disaster, has invested strenuous effort and demonstrated extraordinary leadership,” Mr. Ban told reporters in Yingxiu, according to Reuters. He added: “I’m coming from my visit to Myanmar, where 130,000 people were killed or missing. It was very humbling and very tragic.”

Speaking later during his flight out of China, Mr. Ban was asked if his praise of China was intended as a message to Myanmar’s leaders. “You may have your own interpretation,” he replied, according to Reuters. “I just wanted to talk about the facts.”

中国成都--联合国秘书长潘基文于周六飞往中国地震受灾地区四川省，他赞扬了中国对这场灾难的反应措施并保证联合国会支持中国的抗震救灾。

潘基文在地震受灾最严重的映秀镇与中国总理温家宝会面。“如果我们共同努力，我们会战胜这场灾难，”潘基文对站在他身边的温家宝说道。“全世界人民都在你们身后支持你们。”

中国国务院，即中国的内阁已经宣布确认的5.12地震死亡人数已达60560人，还有26221人失踪。但是在周六，温家宝说死亡人数“可能进一步攀升至70000至80000人，甚至更多。”

中国政府说他们正尽全力营救近两周前由于地震而被捆在地下的24名煤矿工人。而温家宝做出了自灾难发生为止最明确的表示，说中国投入大多数的力量搜寻地震灾区被夷为平地的瓦砾中的幸存者。“先前我们的首要目标是搜救被困群众，”温家宝说，“现在我们的首要目标是安置受影响的群众，为灾后的重建工作制定好计划。”

中国政府正努力处理目前的直接危机，就是为据估计500万因地震而无家可归的群众提供临时住所。北京已经做出紧急呼吁要求其他省份为这一大批家庭被毁而无家可归的群众提供帐篷。

中国政府还制定了一批对口扶持计划，指定其他各省为受地震破坏的四川省的灾后重建工作提供经济上和物资上的支持。

联合国秘书长潘基文在访问缅甸之后，立即访问了四川。5月3日一场飓风袭击缅甸导致130000人死亡或失踪。潘基文的所言所行似乎引起了对两国应对措施的比较。

潘基文在对缅甸进行访问时，取得了缅甸政府的许可，允许外国救援队进入缅甸，但这已经是灾难发生几周以后了。

据路透社消息，潘基文在映秀镇告诉记者：“中国政府在这场自然灾害发生后的早期阶段就投入了积极有效的努力，展现了其超凡的领导能力。” 他还说：“我刚结束在缅甸的访问，缅甸的自然灾害导致了130000人死亡或失踪，情况很悲惨，让人感到十分遗憾。”

在结束对中国的访问后，潘基文在返程的飞行中被问及他对中国的赞扬是否有意的，以此对缅甸领导人传达了一则信息时，据路透社消息，潘基文回应道：“你可以有自己的理解，我只想讲出事实。”

>>>沪江汶川地震专题