The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Hong Kong

The chances of rescuing survivors trapped by rubble and landslides caused by a devastating earthquake in southwest China will drop after Thursday, a rescue expert said.

"Most people are saved in the first three or four days," said Willie McMartin, director of British-based charity International Rescue Corps, which has helped save people's lives in disasters across the world.

"People can survive up to 15 days, but that is when you are talking about miracles and miracles do not happen very often," McMartin said.

"We would normally slow down our rescue operations a week after the earthquake happened," he told Agence France-Presse in Hong Kong, where his 10-strong team are trying to secure permission to enter China to help find survivors in areas destroyed by Monday's quake.

The 7.9-magnitude earthquake has left more than 40,000 dead or missing in southwestern Sichuan province, many buried under collapsed buildings or landslides. One girl was pulled from the rubble 50 hours after her school was destroyed, state media said. China said Thursday it would allow emergency rescue teams from Japan to aid earthquake relief efforts, the first country from which it has accepted help.

Australia earlier said that China had declined its offer.

"Quake relief work has entered into the most crucial phase," President Hu Jintao said after flying to Mianyang, one of the cities worst hit in Monday's 7.9-magnitude quake.

"The challenge is still severe, the task is still arduous and the time is pressing," he said, quoted by China's state-run Xinhua news agency.