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At least 113 dead in Sichuan quake, more than 3,000 injured
Source: Agencies |
April 20, 2013, Saturday
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At least 113 people have been killed and about 3,000 injured in the 7.0-magnitude earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province as of 4:40 p.m. on Saturday, according to the provincial seismological bureau.
The earthquake hit Lushan county of Ya'an City in the province at 8:02 a.m. Saturday Beijing Time, wrecking homes and triggering landslides in an area devastated by a major tremor in 2008, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
The shallow earthquake struck Sichuan on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau just after 8:00 am, triggering a major rescue operation in the province where 87,000 people were reported dead or missing five years ago.
At least 10,000 homes were destroyed, the Sichuan government said.
Local seismologists registered the quake at magnitude 7.0. More than 260 aftershocks followed, the People's Daily said on its website.
The shaking was felt in the provincial capital Chengdu, which lies to the east, and even in the megacity of Chongqing several hundred kilometers away.
Panicked residents fled into the streets, some of them still in their slippers and pyjamas.
"Members of my family were woken up. They were lying in bed when the strong shaking began and the wardrobes began shaking strongly," said a 43-year-old Chongqing resident surnamed Wang. "We grabbed our clothes and ran outside."
About 6,000 soldiers and police were heading to the area to help rescue work, the Xinhua news agency said.
Some had to contend with roads blocked by debris, CCTV reported, while one military vehicle carrying 17 troops plummeted over a cliff, killing one soldier and injuring seven others, Xinhua said.
"There are mountains on all sides, it is very easy to trigger mudslides and very dangerous," one user wrote on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.
The disaster evoked comparisons to the 2008 Sichuan quake, the country's worst in decades, and President Xi Jinping ordered all out efforts to minimise casualties, Xinhua said.
Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Sichuan in the afternoon and was taking a helicopter to the quake zone.
"The current most urgent issue is grasping the first 24 hours since the quake's occurrence, the golden time for saving lives," he was quoted as saying.
Amid the rescue efforts, a 30-year-old pregnant woman surnamed Zhao was pulled out of the rubble along with a young child and sent to hospital for treatment, the People's Daily said on its Weibo account.
A local TV journalist due to get married on Saturday turned up instead for work and a photograph of her reporting on the disaster in her wedding dress with bright makeup and a corsage was widely circulated on Weibo.
Meanwhile Ya'an residents were offering to donate badly needed blood, the People's Daily said.
But volunteers outside the city were discouraged from flocking to Ya'an to help with relief efforts, Xinhua said, to avoid blocking already busy phone lines and worsening road congestion.
"A fair amount of telecoms facilities have been damaged," it said.
Three reservoirs in the area had shown cracks and people downstream were being relocated, a Sichuan government website said.
Pandas at a reserve less than 50 kilometers from the epicenter were not harmed, Xinhua said, citing an employee.
"Hang in there Ya'an!" the user wrote.
Weibo users in other cities reported feeling tremors.
Residents ran onto the street to get away from high rises, made phone calls and cried, a Sichuan government website reported. A few had even packed bags in case they needed to take shelter elsewhere.
The earthquake hit Lushan county of Ya'an City in the province at 8:02 a.m. Saturday Beijing Time, wrecking homes and triggering landslides in an area devastated by a major tremor in 2008, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
The shallow earthquake struck Sichuan on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau just after 8:00 am, triggering a major rescue operation in the province where 87,000 people were reported dead or missing five years ago.
At least 10,000 homes were destroyed, the Sichuan government said.
Local seismologists registered the quake at magnitude 7.0. More than 260 aftershocks followed, the People's Daily said on its website.
The shaking was felt in the provincial capital Chengdu, which lies to the east, and even in the megacity of Chongqing several hundred kilometers away.
Panicked residents fled into the streets, some of them still in their slippers and pyjamas.
"Members of my family were woken up. They were lying in bed when the strong shaking began and the wardrobes began shaking strongly," said a 43-year-old Chongqing resident surnamed Wang. "We grabbed our clothes and ran outside."
About 6,000 soldiers and police were heading to the area to help rescue work, the Xinhua news agency said.
Some had to contend with roads blocked by debris, CCTV reported, while one military vehicle carrying 17 troops plummeted over a cliff, killing one soldier and injuring seven others, Xinhua said.
"There are mountains on all sides, it is very easy to trigger mudslides and very dangerous," one user wrote on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.
The disaster evoked comparisons to the 2008 Sichuan quake, the country's worst in decades, and President Xi Jinping ordered all out efforts to minimise casualties, Xinhua said.
Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Sichuan in the afternoon and was taking a helicopter to the quake zone.
"The current most urgent issue is grasping the first 24 hours since the quake's occurrence, the golden time for saving lives," he was quoted as saying.
Amid the rescue efforts, a 30-year-old pregnant woman surnamed Zhao was pulled out of the rubble along with a young child and sent to hospital for treatment, the People's Daily said on its Weibo account.
A local TV journalist due to get married on Saturday turned up instead for work and a photograph of her reporting on the disaster in her wedding dress with bright makeup and a corsage was widely circulated on Weibo.
Meanwhile Ya'an residents were offering to donate badly needed blood, the People's Daily said.
But volunteers outside the city were discouraged from flocking to Ya'an to help with relief efforts, Xinhua said, to avoid blocking already busy phone lines and worsening road congestion.
"A fair amount of telecoms facilities have been damaged," it said.
Three reservoirs in the area had shown cracks and people downstream were being relocated, a Sichuan government website said.
Pandas at a reserve less than 50 kilometers from the epicenter were not harmed, Xinhua said, citing an employee.
"Hang in there Ya'an!" the user wrote.
Weibo users in other cities reported feeling tremors.
Residents ran onto the street to get away from high rises, made phone calls and cried, a Sichuan government website reported. A few had even packed bags in case they needed to take shelter elsewhere.
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