At 8:40 PM, May 17, front-line reporter Cui Junyang sent an on-the-spot report from the disaster area back to China.org.cn.

Cui and his colleague Wang Rui are in Qingchuan County, Guangyuan City, one of the areas of Sichuan hardest-hit by the earthquake.

According to Cui, a significant problem is being created by villagers who are continuing to burn straw and stubble in their fields, despite appeals from Sichuan People's Broadcasting Station and Chengdu Radio Station.

Clouds of smoke created by the stubble burning are interfering with relief flights dropping supplies in the area. The billowing smoke makes it impossible to make the drops with any accuracy. It is believed many farmers have no access to TV or Radio and have not heard the broadcast appeals for them to stop.

Cui and his colleague went to Qingchuan from Guangyuan City, a journey that took them nearly five hours along a precarious road strewn with fallen boulders, where it seemed further rock falls could occur at any time. There are few safe passing places on the single track road and this is hampering the delivery of relief supplies.

The whole county of Qingchuan smells of disinfectant. Some places are entirely in ruins and there is a clearly detectable smell of decomposing bodies.

(China.org.cn translated by Wang Wei, May 18, 2008)