Deadly earthquake strikes China’s Sichuan province
THIRTEEN people have been killed and up to 100 more are feared dead after an earthquake struck southwest China, while a second big quake hit the country’s northwest.
CHINA has been rocked by two big earthquakes, the first striking in the southwestern Sichuan province last night and the second striking this morning in the northwestern Xinjiang province close to the Kazakhstan border.
The Sichuan quake, measuring 6.5 in magnitude, struck around 9.20pm and killed at least nine people – including five tourists. But the toll is expected to climb as news trickles out of the remote mountainous region.
This morning’s quake, which was felt at 7.27am local time (8.27am AEST) was measured as a 6.3 magnitude quake.
It struck 13km northeast of the city of Yining, which has a population of 500,000 people.
The Paris-based independent earthquake monitoring agency EMSC tweeted that there were three felt earthquakes in 30 minutes in thge Xinjiang province.
The Sichuan quake occurred near Jiuzhaigou, or Jiuzhai Valley, a national park known for spectacular waterfalls and karst formations. The area is located on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau in northern Sichuan province, home to many Tibetan and other ethnic minority villages.
China’s National Commission for Disaster Reduction warns that as many as 100 people may have perished, based on 2010 census data of the mountainous, sparsely populated region which is, however, a popular tourist spot.
Over 130,000 houses may be damaged, it added in a statement posted on its website, based on a preliminary analysis of the disaster in a remote region of Sichuan province.
Early reports state 13 deaths have been confirmed, with 175 injured.
At least five of the dead were visitors to the tourist area.
A separate 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook northwest China’s Xinjiang region, thousands of kilometres from Sichuan, according to the USGS.
It struck at around 7.30 am (2330 GMT) and was followed by two aftershocks of 5.2 and 5.3 magnitude, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the remote area.
WITNESS ACCOUNTS
A man surnamed Song who answered a phone call by AP at a local emergency office inSichuan’s Aba prefecture, where the Jiuzhaigou national park is located, said the nearby town of Zhangzha reported the deaths and injuries.
Song did not say where the five tourists were from.
Xinhua said more than 34,000 people were visiting the popular tourist site at the time.
It said, 31,500 tourists had been relocated to safety.
#Sichuan M7.0 #earthquake: Firefighters are racing against time to try to search for more survivors after marching 10km to the quake zone pic.twitter.com/DMnFHv8AwB
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) August 8, 2017
#Sichuan M7.0 #earthquake: All people trapped in a hotel in quake zone rescued and evacuated https://t.co/tKHCnAmyFf pic.twitter.com/W50YekdJe6
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) August 8, 2017
Restaurant owner Tang Sesheng fled her establishment in Jiuzhaigou town after she felt the earth moving under her.
“I was also in Jiuzhaigou in 2008 during the last big quake, so I knew what it was. This felt even stronger,” she told AFP by phone.
She said people had come out of their homes to sit out in the town’s large public square, far from any tall structures, afraid to go back inside for fear that buildings might topple.
Many were also sitting in cars, thinking it safer.
“People didn’t dare grab anything like money or clothes - we just all ran outside right away.” The quake occurred around 9.20 pm local time, not far from the site of a massive 8.0-magnitude earthquake that struck in 2008 leaving 87,000 people dead or missing.
Its epicentre was 284 kilometres north of the provincial capital Chengdu and struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.
TOURIST HOTSPOT
The affected region, Jiuzhaigou county, includes one of the country’s most famous national parks, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for karst formations and lakes.
More than 38,000 people visited the tourist site on Tuesday, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Electricity was cut off briefly, but was then restored, she said. Some houses at the scenic spot collapsed following the quake and authorities were organising young people to help evacuate residents, a staff worker at the park told Xinhua.
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Sichuan Province Tuesday night, killing 7 people by 1:30 a.m. Wednesday https://t.co/uMb2bNGrUf pic.twitter.com/QM9edniMnG
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) August 8, 2017
Magnitude 7.0 #Earthquake hit Sichuan 40 mins ago, my city-Xi'an felt it strongly. Now a lot of ppl still waiting outside. ðŸ™ðŸ™ðŸ™ pic.twitter.com/6DMtzC7yio
— Vivien Wei Li (@vivienweili) August 8, 2017
A report on the Xinhua news site’s official microblog also cited Zhao Wei, the party secretary of the Communist Youth League’s Jiuzhaigou division, as saying some telephone communications networks were down, making it difficult to determine the scale of the damage.
EMERGENCY REACTION
Photos from the area posted to social media showed masses of people milling about on streets scattered with light debris, and a taxi dented from being hit by a large boulder.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for rapid efforts to respond to the quake and rescue the injured.
Over 600 fire officers and soldiers have been deployed, the People’s Daily newspaper said.
The Red Cross Society of China said it was deploying emergency specialists and volunteers to assist affected communities.
#Sichuan M7.0 #earthquake: People trapped in quake zone sleep on street with blankets keeping warm from the cold pic.twitter.com/lZxLGRJMeq
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) August 8, 2017
#Sichuan M7.0 #earthquake: Death toll rises to 9, including 6 tourists; over 130 wounded pic.twitter.com/LRrpbmVEWc
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) August 8, 2017
“The quake hit at night, communications lines and electricity are disrupted and people are no doubt shocked and scared,” said Gwendolyn Pang, a spokesperson with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in China.
“It may take some time to learn the extent of damage and casualties.”
China is regularly hit by earthquakes, especially its mountainous western and southwestern regions.
Earlier today, a landslide triggered by heavy rains killed at least 24 people in a different, mountainous region of Sichuan to the south of Chengdu.
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