Pictures of the damage caused by the earthquake in Sichuan province. Photo: AP
At least 30 people died this Monday from a major earthquake that triggered landslides and scared the population of a large city under COVID quarantine in southwestern China, state media reported.
The 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit a mountainous area in Luding County, Sichuan Province at 12:52 p.m., according to the China Earthquake Center.
The earthquakes shallower tend to cause more damage.
Sichuan, located on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, where two tectonic plates meet, is regularly subject to earthquakes. At least four people died in two earthquakes in the region in June.
Authorities have reported landslides and damage to homes and power outages, according to state television CCTV cameras. A landslide blocked a rural highway covered with rocks, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.
a confined city
The quake was felt 200 kilometers away in the provincial capital, Chengdu, where a The COVID-19 outbreak has confined most of its 21 million inhabitants to their residential complexes, as part of China’s strict “zero COVID” policy.
Jiang Danli, who lives in Chengdu, said he hid under a desk for five minutes in his apartment on the 31st floor. Many of his neighbors ran downstairs, he said.
“There was a strong earthquake in June, but it wasn’t very scary. This time I got really scared because I live on a high floor and the tremor made my head spin,” he said. Associated Press.
The past two months in Chengdu “have been strange,” Jiang said. the heat wave caused the lack of water and electricity cuts because Sichan relies on hydroelectric energy, to which the new outbreak of the virus and then the earthquake has been added.
The US Geological Survey reported a magnitude 6.6 tremor with an epicenter 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep. It is normal that the preliminary measurements of the different agencies do not coincide.
The deadliest earthquake China has experienced in recent years was a tremor of magnitude 7.9 that killed nearly 90,000 people in Sichuan in 2008.
The fire devastated cities, schools and rural villages on the outskirts of Chengdu, prompting a long-term effort to rebuild with stronger materials.
Source: AP
Source: Clarin
