Rescuers digging by hand through mud found a 52-year-old man who had been trapped for more than 50 hours inside a leveled apartment building in the remote town of Zhouqu, where more than 1,000 other people were still listed as missing. Rescuers with sniffer dogs discovered the man, Liu Ma Shindan, who was weak but breathing normally.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari returned home to a storm of criticism after visiting Europe as his country was gripped by the worst floods in its history. His arrival Tuesday came as thousands of people fled a major city in central Pakistan as rivers threatened to submerge the area.

And rescuers in the desert mountainsides in Indian-controlled Kashmir recovered more bodies, with the death toll rising to 165 from flash floods. Thousands of army and paramilitary soldiers continued clearing roads and removing the debris of hundreds of homes flattened in the Ladakh region.

About 200 remained missing around Ladakh, said Lt. Col. J.

S. Brar, an army spokesman. With the road links being restored, nearly 300 people who fled to higher ground have returned to their homes, he said.

The disaster in China's Gansu province was caused when a debris-blocked swollen river burst, swamping entire mountain villages in the county seat of Zhouqu.

Tian Baozhong, the director of civil affairs in Gansu province, said the death toll now stood at 702, up from 337 on Monday.

Flooding in China has killed about 1,800 people this year and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage across 28 provinces and regions.

In Pakistan, two weeks of flooding have killed 1,500. Amid the relentless rains, President Zardari — an unpopular figure to begin with — took off for a visit to France and Britain.

The widespread crisis has overwhelmed Pakistan's government and frustrated citizens who have complained about slow or nonexistent aid efforts.

The Pakistani Taleban, which is allied to Al-Qaeda and is fighting for the overthrow of the Pakistani state, urged the government not to accept any Western aid for flood relief. Western countries have given millions of dollars, and the US effort has included helicopter relief flights in the stricken region.

Pakistan estimates that 13.8 million of its people are affected by the floods and will need short-term aid or long-term assistance to recover.

“The magnitude of the tragedy is so immense that it is hard to assess,” said Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani during a visit to the central Pakistani city of Multan.

On Tuesday, people streamed out of Muzaffargarh, a major city of about 250,000 people in Punjab province, after authorities issued warnings using loudspeakers on mosques the previous evening. “There is chaos,” said Mohammed Amir, a police official in the city.