Rescuers search for survivors in the ruins of a damaged home in Hetuo township in Dingxi, after two quakes hit northwest China’s Gansu province yesterday.
BEIJING: At least 89 people were killed and more than 600 severely injured when two shallow earthquakes struck northwest China early yesterday, officials said, as rescuers battled to reach survivors in the remote, mountainous area.
The local government in Dingxi in Gansu province, where the 5.9- and 5.6-magnitude tremors struck, gave the figures on its verified social media account.
“More than 21,000 buildings were severely damaged and more than 1,200 have collapsed,” an official at the provincial earthquake bureau said, adding that 371 aftershocks had been recorded.
The US Geological Survey said the initial 5.9-magnitude quake hit at 7.45am, with its epicentre 151km west of Beidao in Gansu at a depth of just 9.8km.
A second 5.6-magnitude tremor hit the same region at 9:12am and was 10.1km deep, USGS said.
A resident of Min county said he was at work at a medicine production plant when the tremor struck and he saw tower blocks shake “ferociously”.
A report on the 163.com Internet news portal said 500 troops, including 120 specialised rescuers were on their way to the disaster zone.
A total of 380 buildings collapsed and thousands were damaged in Zhang county, according to an online post by the Dingxi local government. Communications were cut off in 13 towns in the county, the official Xinhua news agency said, and power was off in some areas.
The quake was felt in the provincial capital Lanzhou and as far away as Xian, the capital of the neighbouring province of Shaanxi, Xinhua reported.
Beijing’s own China Earthquake Networks Centre put the magnitude of the larger quake at 6.6, it added.
The China Earthquake Administration said the same fault zone was linked to a magnitude 8.0 quake on July 21, 1654, Xinhua added.
The USGS rated yesterday’s main tremor at seven on its “shakemap”, with shaking perceived to be “very strong” and the potential to cause “moderate” damage.
AFP
