Hundreds killed in China earthquake
Source: Xinhua |
April 15, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MORE than 400 people died and at least 10,000 others were injured after a magnitude-7.1 earthquake and a series of aftershocks hit northwest China early yesterday morning. The toll is expected to rise.
Many people are still buried under the debris of collapsed houses in Gyegu township near the epicenter in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu in southern Qinghai Province.
The strong quake and string of aftershocks, with the biggest one being magnitude 6.3, toppled houses, temples, gas stations and power poles, caused landslides, damaged roads, cut electricity supplies and disrupted telecommunications.
A dam was cracked, where workers are trying to prevent water escaping.
Gyegu, also known as Jiegu, is the seat of the Yushu prefecture government. The town has a population of about 100,000.
"I can see injured people everywhere - the biggest problem now is that we lack tents, we lack medical equipment, medicine and medical workers," said Zhuohuaxia, a publicity official in Yushu.
More than 85 percent of the houses in Gyegu, almost all made of wood with earthen walls, had collapsed, he said.
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered local authorities to go all out to save the disaster-stricken people.
The State Council, the nation's Cabinet, has set up a relief headquarters, with Vice Premier Hui Liangyu as the head, to oversee relief, epidemic prevention, seismic monitoring and public security. Hui has already arrived in the quake-hit region.
About 700 soldiers were struggling to clear away rubble and rescue buried people, a spokesman with the Qinghai Provincial Emergency Office said.
More than 5,000 additional rescuers, including soldiers and medical workers, had been sent to the area, according to a news conference held by the Qinghai provincial government.
The China Earthquake Administration, the Red Cross Society of China and authorities in other regions, including Gansu, Sichuan, Tibet, Beijing and Guangdong, have also sent rescuers to Yushu.
Tents, cotton-padded clothes, quilts, food, medicine, bulldozers, excavators, cranes and dynamotors are being rushed to the region from across the country.
"Our top priority is to save students as schools are always places that have many people," said Kang Zifu, an army officer with the rescue operation in Gyegu.
The quake also killed five people and injured one in the Shiqu County, which neighbors Yushu, in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze in Sichuan Province.
Samdrup Gyatso, 17, who ran a shop from his two-story house in Gyegu, lost relatives in the quake. "There are 10 people in my family and only four of us escaped. One of my relatives died for sure. All the others are buried under the rubble," he said.
Local residents were seen yesterday afternoon taking cars, mini-vans and tractors to flee the town and many buses and privately owned cars carried injured people on the highway from Yushu to Xining, the provincial capital.
The epicenter was at the village of Rima in the town of Shanglaxiu, 50 kilometers west of Gyegu and 800km from Xining.
Zhu Liang, a driver for the Yushu prefecture government, said half of the buildings in the Yushu Vocational School had collapsed. "I don't know how many students have died," he said.
"Students just got up and were yet to go to class when the quake happened. I recovered several bodies from the debris and found they were fully dressed."
A teacher surnamed Chang at the Yushu Primary School, a boarding facility with about 1,000 students, said: "Buildings in our school were all toppled and five pupils have died."
Although Yushu is a lightly populated region, experts said the strong earthquake was likely to cause "heavy" casualties.
Many people are still buried under the debris of collapsed houses in Gyegu township near the epicenter in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu in southern Qinghai Province.
The strong quake and string of aftershocks, with the biggest one being magnitude 6.3, toppled houses, temples, gas stations and power poles, caused landslides, damaged roads, cut electricity supplies and disrupted telecommunications.
A dam was cracked, where workers are trying to prevent water escaping.
Gyegu, also known as Jiegu, is the seat of the Yushu prefecture government. The town has a population of about 100,000.
"I can see injured people everywhere - the biggest problem now is that we lack tents, we lack medical equipment, medicine and medical workers," said Zhuohuaxia, a publicity official in Yushu.
More than 85 percent of the houses in Gyegu, almost all made of wood with earthen walls, had collapsed, he said.
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered local authorities to go all out to save the disaster-stricken people.
The State Council, the nation's Cabinet, has set up a relief headquarters, with Vice Premier Hui Liangyu as the head, to oversee relief, epidemic prevention, seismic monitoring and public security. Hui has already arrived in the quake-hit region.
About 700 soldiers were struggling to clear away rubble and rescue buried people, a spokesman with the Qinghai Provincial Emergency Office said.
More than 5,000 additional rescuers, including soldiers and medical workers, had been sent to the area, according to a news conference held by the Qinghai provincial government.
The China Earthquake Administration, the Red Cross Society of China and authorities in other regions, including Gansu, Sichuan, Tibet, Beijing and Guangdong, have also sent rescuers to Yushu.
Tents, cotton-padded clothes, quilts, food, medicine, bulldozers, excavators, cranes and dynamotors are being rushed to the region from across the country.
"Our top priority is to save students as schools are always places that have many people," said Kang Zifu, an army officer with the rescue operation in Gyegu.
The quake also killed five people and injured one in the Shiqu County, which neighbors Yushu, in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze in Sichuan Province.
Samdrup Gyatso, 17, who ran a shop from his two-story house in Gyegu, lost relatives in the quake. "There are 10 people in my family and only four of us escaped. One of my relatives died for sure. All the others are buried under the rubble," he said.
Local residents were seen yesterday afternoon taking cars, mini-vans and tractors to flee the town and many buses and privately owned cars carried injured people on the highway from Yushu to Xining, the provincial capital.
The epicenter was at the village of Rima in the town of Shanglaxiu, 50 kilometers west of Gyegu and 800km from Xining.
Zhu Liang, a driver for the Yushu prefecture government, said half of the buildings in the Yushu Vocational School had collapsed. "I don't know how many students have died," he said.
"Students just got up and were yet to go to class when the quake happened. I recovered several bodies from the debris and found they were fully dressed."
A teacher surnamed Chang at the Yushu Primary School, a boarding facility with about 1,000 students, said: "Buildings in our school were all toppled and five pupils have died."
Although Yushu is a lightly populated region, experts said the strong earthquake was likely to cause "heavy" casualties.
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