Seven dead after powerful quake shakes southwest China
Fallen rocks are seen on a road near Lengqi Town in Luding County of Sichuan Province yesterday
A strong earthquake killed at least seven people, triggered landslides and shook residents in a major city under lockdown in southwestern China yesterday, state media reported.
The 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck a mountainous area in Luding county in Sichuan province shortly after noon, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.
Sichuan, which sits on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau where tectonic plates meet, is regularly hit by earthquakes. Two quakes in June killed at least four people.
Authorities reported seven deaths, landslides and damage to homes and power interruptions, state broadcaster CCTV said. One landslide blocked a rural highway, leaving it strewn with rocks, the Ministry of Emergency Management said.
The quake was felt 200 kilometers away in the provincial capital, Chengdu, where a COVID-19 outbreak has restricted most of its 21 million residents to their compounds under China’s strict “zero-COVID” policy.
Resident Jiang Danli said she hid under a desk for five minutes in her 31st floor apartment, while many of her neighbors rushed downstairs.
“There was a strong earthquake in June, but it wasn’t very scary. This time I was really scared, because I live on a high floor and the shaking made me dizzy,” she told The Associated Press.
The earthquake and lockdown follow a heat wave and drought that led to water shortages and power cuts due to Sichuan’s reliance on hydropower.
The past two months in Chengdu “have been weird,” Jiang said.
The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a magnitude of 6.6 for yesterdays’s quake at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers. Preliminary measurements by different agencies often differ slightly.
China’s deadliest earthquake in recent years was a 7.9 magnitude quake in 2008 that killed nearly 90,000 people in Sichuan. The temblor devastated towns, schools and rural communities outside Chengdu, leading to a years-long effort to rebuild with more resistant materials.
Quake follows typhoon
The earthquake was felt a day after a typhoon forced cities in eastern China to suspend ferry services and classes while more than 100 flights were canceled in Japan as Typhoon Hinnamnor passed through the region.
In South Korea, yesterday, hundreds of flights were grounded and more than 200 people evacuated as the tropical storm approached the country’s southern region with heavy rains and winds of up to 290 kilometers per hour, the strongest storm in decades.
South Korea’s weather agency said the country will start to feel the full force of Hinnamnor, the strongest global storm this year, by early today when it is forecast to graze the southern resort island of Jeju before making landfall near the mainland city of Busan.
Government officials raised concern about potentially huge damage from flooding, landslides and tidal waves. President Yoon Suk Yeol during an emergency response meeting yesterday urged maximum effort to prevent casualties. Prime Minister Han Duk-soo called for proactive efforts to evacuate residents in areas vulnerable to flooding.
As of yesterday afternoon, Hinnamnor was over the open sea 290 kilometers southwest of Jeju. It has dumped 46 centimeters of rain in the central part of Jeju since Sunday, where winds were blowing at a maximum speed of 124 kph and were picking up.
South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety said there were no immediate reports of casualties. At least 11 homes and buildings were flooded in Jeju while more than 200 people were forced to evacuate in Busan and nearby cities because of safety concerns.
More than 360 domestic flights and 66 ferry services were grounded nationwide while thousands of fishing boats returned to port. All schools in Busan and nearby southern regions are scheduled to be closed and shift to online classes today, officials said. MDT/Agencies
