As the official death toll in China’s massive earthquake neared 15,000 Wednesday, military helicopters dropped food and medicine to survivors who remained cut off in remote mountain villages. In a NewsHour interview, Zhou Wenzhong, the Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., discussed the devastation in central China.

“According to the incomplete statistics in Sichuan province alone, the death toll reached 12,000. And 26,000 people were hospitalized, receiving all kinds of treatment. And more than 3 million houses were damaged,” Wenzhong said to NewsHour.

He also spoke about the recent protests over Tibet that have disrupted the Olympic torch relay and the state of international relief efforts following Myanmar’s devastating cyclone.

See more of NewsHour’s China quake coverage here.