Strength 6.2 - Violent earthquake in China - at least 126 people killed
At least 126 people have died in a severe earthquake in northwest China. According to the state news agency Xinhua, over 500 people were also reported injured after the 6.2-magnitude quake late on Monday evening. The US earthquake observatory USGS gave the magnitude of the quake as 5.9.
At least 113 people were killed in Jishishan County in Gansu Province. The neighboring province of Qinghai reported 13 deaths. China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping called for everything to be done to save people.
Eyewitnesses told Xinhua that the earthquake had caused damage to roads and other infrastructure. There was also damage to over 6000 houses in Jishishan. Some houses were completely destroyed. Several villages lost power and the water supply was interrupted. The remote region is considered one of the poorest in China, where there are still many very simply built houses.
Earthquake in China: "We are still in shock"
Several aftershocks occurred during the course of the day. Xinjiang, the western neighboring province of Gansu, was also hit by a magnitude 5.5 quake. However, there were initially no reports of casualties.
According to the local weather authority, the lowest temperature in Jishishan was expected to reach minus 10 degrees on Tuesday. The provincial fire and rescue department sent helpers to the region. The railroad authority suspended the passage of trains through the earthquake zone.
Chinese state media showed photos of people fleeing their homes after the quake and staying outside wrapped in blankets in wintry temperatures. State television showed rescue workers searching for survivors in the rubble.
"We are still in shock," a man from Jishishan told the local news portal Jimu around two hours after the quake. He and his family had run down the stairs from their apartment on the 16th floor. They then fled to safety by car.
Quakes occur again and again in western China
According to eyewitnesses, the quake was also felt in Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu. Videos were shared on social media of students in Lanzhou rushing out of their rooms during the night to get to safety.
Earthquakes are a regular occurrence in the mountainous regions of western China. However, they often hit very sparsely populated regions. The last major earthquake in China with many fatalities occurred last year, when more than 70 people lost their lives in the southwest of the country.
In 2010, an earthquake in Qinghai province killed around 2,700 people. In 2014, around 600 people died in a quake in Yunnan province. In 2008, Sichuan province was hit by a severe earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9, which killed more than 80,000 people.
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- Xinhua reported that several villages in the quake-affected area of Gansu Province, including those in neighboring Qinghua, experienced power outages and disrupted water supplies due to the earthquake's impacts on the infrastructure.
- Following the earthquake in Gansu, Xi Jinping, the head of state and party leader of China, issued a call for immediate efforts to rescue and support those affected, emphasizing the need to save lives in the affected regions, particularly in Xinhua's coverage.
- Earlier, in 2010, an earthquake in Qinghua Province resulted in approximately 2,700 casualties, highlighting the region's historical vulnerability to seismic activity in China, as noted by Xinhua.
Source: www.stern.de
