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Earthquakes hit SW China, killing at least 67 people
Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily |
September 8, 2012, Saturday
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A series of earthquakes collapsed houses and triggered landslides yesterday in a remote mountainous part of southwestern China where damage was preventing rescues and communications were disrupted. At least 67 deaths were reported.
The quakes started with a 5.7-magnitude shock before 11:30am along a border area between Yiliang County of Yunnan Province, and Weining County of Guizhou Province, and another one at 5.6-magnitude struck shortly after noon followed by more than 60 aftershocks, Chinese seismologists said.
Though of moderate strength, the quakes were shallow, which often causes more damage.
Hardest hit was Yiliang, where 66 of the deaths occurred, the provincial civil affairs department said. The other death was reported in Zhaoyang District of Zhaotong, a city that administers Yiliang.
Another 731 people in the county were injured, the local government said. Yiliang's high population density, weak building construction, and propensity for landslides were blamed for the relatively high death toll.
China Central Television showed roads littered with rocks and boulders, and pillars of dust rising over hill crests - signs of landslides.
Footage showed a couple hundred people crowding into what looked like a school athletic field in Yiliang's county seat, a sizeable city spread along a river in a valley bottom.
With some roads impassable, rescuers had yet to reach some outlying villages and towns, Xinhua news agency reported.
Though quakes in the area occur frequently, buildings in rural areas and China's fast-growing smaller cities and towns are often constructed poorly. Many structures in the area are built with mud and timber, making them more prone to collapse, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told Reuters.
"On the other hand, extricating people trapped in these structures may be easier than from under concrete/brick homes, meaning that there could be many more injuries proportionate to the number of deaths," it said.
In 2008, a magnitude-8.0 quake that hit Sichuan Province, just north of Yunnan, killed nearly 90,000 people, with many of the deaths blamed on poorly built structures, including schools.
Yesterday's quakes destroyed or damaged almost 30,000 homes across several counties and townships, the provincial government website said.
The Yunnan seismology bureau said more than 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes. And 700,000 people had their lives disrupted by the earthquakes, it said.
In Luozehe, a town in Yiliang near a zinc mine, residents said boulders hurtled off hillsides and houses collapsed.
"It is scary. My brother was killed by falling rocks. The aftershocks struck again and again. We are so afraid," Xinhua quoted miner Peng Zhuwen as saying.
Wu Xuhong, a goat herder in Luozhe, said only tiles fell from his relatively solid cement and brick sheds.
"But I heard that a lot of buildings built of clay and wood collapsed and we temporarily lost power and a mobile phone signal," Wu told Xinhua.
Red Cross spokesman for East Asia, Francis Markus, told The Associated Press that 2,000 quilts, 2,000 jackets and 500 tents were being rushed to the area, one of China's poorest, which is largely inhabited by members of the Yi ethnic minority.
A government official in Jiaokui town said a large number of houses had collapsed.
"The casualty number is still being compiled. I don't know what it was like for the other towns, but my town got hit badly," he said.
Mobile phone services were down and regular phone lines disrupted.
Phones were cut off to clinics in four villages in Qiaoshan, another town in Yiliang, which has about half a million people.
So far no casualties were reported in neighboring Guizhou, but homes were damaged or destroyed in the province.
The quakes were relatively shallow, about 10 kilometers deep, creating an intense shaking even at a lower magnitude.
By comparison, the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Costa Rica this week was 41 kilometers below the surface, and combined with strict building codes, it kept damage and deaths to a minimum.
The quakes started with a 5.7-magnitude shock before 11:30am along a border area between Yiliang County of Yunnan Province, and Weining County of Guizhou Province, and another one at 5.6-magnitude struck shortly after noon followed by more than 60 aftershocks, Chinese seismologists said.
Though of moderate strength, the quakes were shallow, which often causes more damage.
Hardest hit was Yiliang, where 66 of the deaths occurred, the provincial civil affairs department said. The other death was reported in Zhaoyang District of Zhaotong, a city that administers Yiliang.
Another 731 people in the county were injured, the local government said. Yiliang's high population density, weak building construction, and propensity for landslides were blamed for the relatively high death toll.
China Central Television showed roads littered with rocks and boulders, and pillars of dust rising over hill crests - signs of landslides.
Footage showed a couple hundred people crowding into what looked like a school athletic field in Yiliang's county seat, a sizeable city spread along a river in a valley bottom.
With some roads impassable, rescuers had yet to reach some outlying villages and towns, Xinhua news agency reported.
Though quakes in the area occur frequently, buildings in rural areas and China's fast-growing smaller cities and towns are often constructed poorly. Many structures in the area are built with mud and timber, making them more prone to collapse, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told Reuters.
"On the other hand, extricating people trapped in these structures may be easier than from under concrete/brick homes, meaning that there could be many more injuries proportionate to the number of deaths," it said.
In 2008, a magnitude-8.0 quake that hit Sichuan Province, just north of Yunnan, killed nearly 90,000 people, with many of the deaths blamed on poorly built structures, including schools.
Yesterday's quakes destroyed or damaged almost 30,000 homes across several counties and townships, the provincial government website said.
The Yunnan seismology bureau said more than 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes. And 700,000 people had their lives disrupted by the earthquakes, it said.
In Luozehe, a town in Yiliang near a zinc mine, residents said boulders hurtled off hillsides and houses collapsed.
"It is scary. My brother was killed by falling rocks. The aftershocks struck again and again. We are so afraid," Xinhua quoted miner Peng Zhuwen as saying.
Wu Xuhong, a goat herder in Luozhe, said only tiles fell from his relatively solid cement and brick sheds.
"But I heard that a lot of buildings built of clay and wood collapsed and we temporarily lost power and a mobile phone signal," Wu told Xinhua.
Red Cross spokesman for East Asia, Francis Markus, told The Associated Press that 2,000 quilts, 2,000 jackets and 500 tents were being rushed to the area, one of China's poorest, which is largely inhabited by members of the Yi ethnic minority.
A government official in Jiaokui town said a large number of houses had collapsed.
"The casualty number is still being compiled. I don't know what it was like for the other towns, but my town got hit badly," he said.
Mobile phone services were down and regular phone lines disrupted.
Phones were cut off to clinics in four villages in Qiaoshan, another town in Yiliang, which has about half a million people.
So far no casualties were reported in neighboring Guizhou, but homes were damaged or destroyed in the province.
The quakes were relatively shallow, about 10 kilometers deep, creating an intense shaking even at a lower magnitude.
By comparison, the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Costa Rica this week was 41 kilometers below the surface, and combined with strict building codes, it kept damage and deaths to a minimum.
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