The number of fatalities caused by a powerful earthquake in China rose this Tuesday to 65state media reported Tuesday. They also reported hundreds of injured and at least 16 missing due to this natural phenomenon that hit the southwestern Asian country on Monday.

The earth movement of magnitude 6.8 It was recorded in a mountainous area of ​​Luding County, Sichuan Province, located on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, in an area where two tectonic plates meet, so it regularly experiences earthquakes.

The quake shook buildings in the regional capital, Chengdu, whose 21 million residents were confined by COVID-19.

In the historic town of Moxi, in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Garze, where 37 deaths occurred, the electricity supply was interrupted and damage to buildings was recorded.

Tents were set up to shelter the more than 50,000 people evicted from their homes, who were no longer safe after the earthquake.

State broadcaster CCTV showed rescue teams pulling an apparently unharmed woman out of a collapsed house in Moxi, where many of the buildings are built with a mixture of wood and brick. According to reports, around 150 people suffered injuries of varying degrees in that area.

Another 28 people were killed in nearby Shimian County, outside the city of Ya’an. In addition, 248 injured were recorded, mostly in Moxi, and 12 went missing.

Three of the deceased worked in the tourist area of ​​Hailuogou, a natural reserve of glaciers and forests.

Damage from falling rocks and landslides

In addition to the deaths, authorities reported rock falls and landslides on mountain slopes, which caused damage to homes and power outages, according to CCTV. An avalanche blocked a rural road, leaving it littered with rocks, the Ministry of Emergency Management said.

The tremor was felt at 12:52 local time and had its epicenter 200km southwest of Chengdu city, with a depth of 10km, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

According to the scale used by Chinese seismological authorities, a magnitude 6 earthquake means that most of those affected cannot stand firmly during the earthquake and cracks in walls and collapse of tiles and chimneys can occur.

The earthquake and coronavirus freeze followed a heatwave and drought that led to water shortages and power outages due to Sichuan’s dependence on hydroelectricity. This all adds up to the latest major blockade under China’s rigorous “zero COVID” policy since last Friday.

Sichuan province is located in an area with frequent seismic activity and was the scene of a catastrophic earthquake in May 2008, with a magnitude of 8 degrees and which caused more than 90,000 dead and missing.

With information from agencies.

IS