China Earthquake Claims Lives of 118, Leaves Hundreds Injured
Rescuers in remote villages in northwest China dug through the rubble of collapsed homes on Tuesday after China’s deadliest earthquake in years killed at least 118 people and injured hundreds more. Officials in impoverished Gansu province said the shallow tremor just before midnight had caused the deaths of at least 105 and injured almost 400 as of Tuesday morning.
A further 13 died, 182 were injured and 20 were missing in the city of Haidong in neighbouring Qinghai province, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
I was almost scared to death. Look at how my hands and legs are shaking,” said a woman of about 30 in a video posted to a social media account associated with the state-run People’s Daily newspaper.
As soon as I ran out of the house, the earth on the mountain gave way, thudding on the roof,” she said as she sat swaddled in a blanket outside, cradling a baby.
Footage from CCTV showed family possessions strewn among masonry from a house that caved in during the shaking.
The quake was China’s deadliest since at least 2014, when more than 600 people died in southwestern Yunnan province.
China’s western hinterland carries the scars of frequent seismic activity, and a huge quake in Sichuan province in 2008 left more than 87,000 people dead or missing, including 5,335 schoolchildren.
The US Geological Survey said Monday night’s magnitude-5.9 quake struck at a shallow depth at 11:59 pm local time (1559 GMT) with an epicentre around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Gansu’s proincial capital, Lanzhou.
Footage showed emergency vehicles driving along snow-lined highways towards the scene with their lights flashing.
Rescue workers in overalls were pictured shoulder-to-shoulder in the trucks, while other images showed them lining up in ranks to receive instructions.
Other clips showed emergency personnel going through the debris by torchlight, unfolding orange stretchers for the casualties.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated in Gansu, officials said.
