Death toll in China earthquake rises to at least 118
The state news agency Xinhua reported that the 6.2-magnitude quake caused severe damage and destroyed houses. People ran into the streets to get to safety. According to the report, the electricity and water supply was interrupted in several villages in the region.
According to the local authorities, at least 5,000 houses were damaged in Gansu province. Hundreds of people were evacuated from the area.
The US earthquake observatory USGS initially gave the magnitude of the quake as 6.0 and later as 5.9. The epicenter was around 100 kilometers southwest of Gansu's provincial capital of Lanzhou. The quake during the night was followed by dozens of smaller aftershocks. The authorities warned that further tremors with a magnitude of more than 5.0 were possible in the coming days.
"I was scared to death", said one woman in a video published by the newspaper "People's Daily" on online networks. "Look how my hands and legs are shaking." Masses of earth from a mountain fell onto the roof of her house shortly after she ran out of the building, she said.
According to a report by state broadcaster CCTV, more than 1,400 rescue workers were dispatched to the earthquake region, with a further 1,600 on standby. According to the report, drinking water, blankets, stoves and instant noodles were brought to the region. Video footage from one of the worst-affected locations showed residents warming themselves by a fire while the rescue services set up tents.
China's head of state Xi Jinping called for everything to be done to save people. The president also warned of the freezing temperatures in the high-altitude region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his "deep" condolences to China. "In Russia, we share the pain of those who lost their loved ones in the disaster and hope for the speedy recovery of all those injured," Putin said in a message to Xi, according to the Kremlin.
The quake was the deadliest in China since 2014, when more than 600 people died in the southwestern province of Yunnan. China is repeatedly shaken by earthquakes, some of which are devastating. In 2008, a 7.9-magnitude quake in Sichuan province killed more than 87,000 people. In September 2022, almost a hundred people were killed in an earthquake, also in Sichuan.
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Source: www.stern.de
