At least 66 people were killed and 12 missing in the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck southwest China. The incident hit China’s Sichuan province yesterday and is considered the strongest in the region since 2017. Firefighters and military studies search for survivors among the wreckage. The phenomenon is estimated to have injured 250 people.
The shaking was recorded at 12:52 pm (1:52 GMT) in the Tibetan autonomous municipality of Garze and neighboring Shimian county. China’s earthquake center said the epicenter of the earthquake was in Luding city, in the mountains about 226km southwest of Chengdu.
State channel CCTV reported that more than 11,000 people were evacuated from areas at risk of landslides. According to the Ministry of Water Resources, seven hydroelectric power stations were also damaged.
“Everyone is in tents set up by rescue workers and the military,” Chen Ling, who runs a restaurant in the city of Moxi, one of the worst-affected areas, told AFP by phone.
“It’s safer to be here because there are still aftershocks and roof tiles can easily fall off buildings. The electricity went out, but generators were brought in,” explains the woman, who waited to be there “probably for 10 to 15 days.”
CCTV also reported that about 200 people were stranded in the Hailuogou Valley, a glacier tourist area at more than 2,850 meters.
Some roads devastated or bifurcated by the earthquake are unusable, causing emergency crews to cross rivers with bridges or cables placed between the two banks.
Laura Luo, who lives in Chengdu, a city of about 21 million, saw people who had received earthquake alerts on their phones on the way to her apartment, leaving the buildings in panic.
“Many people were so scared they started crying,” international public relations consultant told Reuters. “All the dogs started barking. It was really scary,” he said of the onset of the earthquake.
military mobilization
Image: CNS / AFP
The Chinese military announced on Monday that it is sending a special team to assist the public.
According to CCTV, more than 6,500 people were mobilized as part of the rescue teams. The earthquake was also felt in buildings in the provincial capital, Chengdu, and the larger city of Chongqing, where millions of people were quarantined due to the Covid epidemic.
“I heard a very loud noise. The house was shaking so much that I woke up right away,” a Lu County resident, whose identity is only Zheng, told Beijing News. “My brother’s house collapsed. His house is old, it was built more than 10 years ago. Mine is new, the situation is better,” he said.
After the earthquake, the region recorded at least 10 aftershocks of 3 degrees or greater, according to the China Seismic Networks Center.
President Xi Jinping urged the country on Monday night to do “everything possible to assist those affected and minimize human casualties,” the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Meteorology forecasts rain in the most affected area for the next few days, which could complicate rescue operations.
unstable area
Earthquakes are common in the southwest of Sichuan Province, particularly in the western mountains, which is a tectonically active region along the eastern border of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
A 6.1-magnitude tremor struck the state in June, killing four and injuring dozens. A 7.9 magnitude earthquake in May 2008 caused a total of 87,000 deaths and disappearances.
The disaster created national turmoil. Among the victims were thousands of students who died as a result of the collapse of a school. At that time, police arrested militants who tried to explain the exact number of children killed in the disaster.
Extending the lock
Chengdu, a city of 21 million, extended its population restriction this Sunday (4) after new positive Covid-19 cases were discovered. Citizens cannot leave the house after 18:00.
(2) On Friday, residents of the city struggled to find products in supermarkets with empty shelves.
China is the last major economy to implement a “covid zero” policy that fights the virus through quarantines, mass testing and lengthy quarantines.
*With information from AFP, Reuters and RFI
source: Noticias
