116 killed, nearly 400 injured as 6.2 magnitude earthquake strikes China’s Gansu

mangaloretoday.com

Beijing, Dec 19, 2023: At least 116 people were killed and nearly 400 others injured when a powerful 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck a remote mountainous region in northwest China just before midnight, the local earthquake relief headquarters said on Tuesday.

A massive earthquake jolted Gansu and Qinghai provinces at 11.59 pm on Monday, with a focal depth of 10 kilometres, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC).

 

Preliminary analysis showed that the quake was a thrust-type rupture, one of three above magnitude 6 to have struck within 200km of the epicentre since 1900, state television CCTV said.

A second quake struck the neighbouring Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region hours later on Tuesday. A total of nine aftershocks at magnitude 3.0 and above were recorded before dawn Tuesday, CCTV said.

The quake occurred at a depth of 35 km with its epicentre 102 km west-southwest of Gansu’s provincial capital city, Lanzhou. Official reports have not stated whether there are any missing people in the quake’s aftermath.

The official Xinhua news agency said the epicentre was 5 km from the border between the two northwestern provinces, reporting that strong tremors were felt in many parts of Qinghai province.

As the disaster area is in a high-altitude region where the weather is cold, rescue efforts are working to prevent secondary disasters caused by factors beyond the quake, Xinhua said.

Experts said the shallow quake caused heavy damage to transportation, communications and infrastructure.

Rescue and relief work is under way and a working group was dispatched to assess the impact of the disaster and to provide guidance for local relief operations, state media said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang have ordered all-out rescue efforts to minimise casualties after the earthquake.

Xi asked local authorities to rescue and treat the injured promptly, and closely monitor the earthquake situation and weather changes to prevent secondary disasters.

Courtesy: India Today