Rescuers scour for survivors after dozens killed in China quake

Rescuers scour for survivors after dozens killed in China quake

Rescue workers carry an injured person after a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck China's southwestern Sichuan province on Monday
Rescue workers carry an injured person after a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck China's southwestern Sichuan province on Monday. Photo: STR / CNS/AFP
Source: AFP

Rescuers scoured through rubble for hundreds of missing people in parts of southwestern China on Tuesday after an earthquake killed more than 60, as local weather services warned rain was set to inundate the area.

The magnitude 6.6 quake hit about 43 kilometres (26 miles) southeast of the city of Kangding in Sichuan province at a depth of 10 kilometres on Monday, according to the US Geological Survey.

At least 65 people were killed, state media reported Tuesday morning, with more than 200 still trapped in a remote scenic area and scores missing elsewhere.

Video from state broadcaster CCTV showed firefighters pulling a bruised and bloodied woman from the rubble and carrying a survivor on a stretcher across a river on a makeshift bridge as well as damaged buildings and streets strewn with fallen masonry.

Read also

Strong earthquake in southwest China kills 21

Quake in Sichuan province
Map showing the population density near the epicentre of a 6.6-magnitude quake in Sichuan province, China, on September 5.. Photo: Emmanuelle MICHEL / AFP
Source: AFP

PAY ATTENTION: Follow us on Instagram - get the most important news directly in your favourite app!

And footage shared by the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) showed boulders thundering down mountainsides in Luding county, kicking up clouds of dust as the tremors swayed roadside telephone wires.

At least one town suffered "severe damage" from landslides triggered by the quake, CCTV reported.

"Before 5 o'clock, I heard a rumbling sound. The house shook so badly that I woke up immediately," one woman surnamed Zheng from Sichuan's Lu county told Beijing News.

"My brother's house collapsed. His house is an old one built more than 10 years ago. My house is newly built, so the situation is better."

'All-out to rescue people'

Rescue workers evacuate residents from Luding county in China's southwestern Sichuan province after Monday's devastating earthquake
Rescue workers evacuate residents from Luding county in China's southwestern Sichuan province after Monday's devastating earthquake. Photo: STR / CNS/AFP
Source: AFP

The quake also rocked buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu -- where millions are confined to their homes under a strict Covid-19 lockdown -- and in the nearby megacity of Chongqing, local residents told AFP.

Read also

Engineers breach Pakistan lake as flood misery grows for millions

At least 10 aftershocks of magnitude 3.0 and above had been detected as of 7 am local time (2300 GMT), CCTV said.

The local meteorological department has said Luding county -- the epicentre of the quake -- will experience rain for three days, potentially hampering rescue work.

China's cabinet last night said it has dispatched a special team to lead the efforts, with CCTV reporting more than 6,500 people had been sent to emergency rescue.

And President Xi Jinping called for local authorities to "make saving lives the first priority, go all-out to rescue people in disaster-stricken areas and minimise loss of life", according to CCTV.

Local officials have launched a public appeal for donations to help with relief work.

Quake-prone region

Earthquakes are fairly common in China, especially in the country's seismically active southwest.

A smaller magnitude 4.6 tremor hit eastern Tibet less than an hour after the initial quake, according to the USGS.

Read also

Famine 'at the door' in Somalia: UN humanitarian chief

A magnitude 8.0 quake in 2008 in Sichuan's Wenchuan county left tens of thousands dead and caused enormous damage.

In June, at least four people were killed and dozens more injured after two earthquakes in southwestern China.

That month, a shallow 6.1-magnitude shock hit a sparsely populated area about 100 kilometres west of Chengdu.

It was followed three minutes later by a second quake of magnitude 4.5 in a nearby county, where the deaths and injuries occurred.

Authorities in Chengdu extended the city's lockdown on Sunday as they fight a Covid flare-up with hundreds of cases.

The region has also suffered a summer of extreme weather, with a record-breaking heatwave noticeably drying rivers in Chongqing.

Source: AFP

Authors:
AFP avatar

AFP AFP text, photo, graphic, audio or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer or otherwise except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service, AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, videos, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP material. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP material.