The whole China shakes

[GeneChing]

Rough, but at least no one died.

Look: Villagers in quake-hit Yunnan await help in dismal conditions



Groups of villagers in Jinggu county, Yunnan province were reduced to living in makeshift shelters as they waited for relief supplies from the government yesterday, a day after a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck the area and destroyed thousands of homes.



Villagers flocked to vegetable sheds and sought cover under propped-up umbrellas and blankets as they waited for government-issued tents and other relief supplies.



The quake hit just before 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday with a focal depth of five kilometers. The epicenter was monitored in Jinggu county, where over 7,000 buildings were destroyed and 13,000 more damaged. By Wednesday, nearly half of the 124,000 people affected had been evacuated.



In a written instruction issued yesterday, President Xi Jinping urged armed forces to join quake relief work as soon as possible.





The official death toll from the earthquake stands at just one person. Huang Fugang, director of the provincial seismological administration, has attributed the low casualty count to the prevalence of wood-framed homes in the area which are able to better withstand earthquakes.





This is the second strong earthquake to hit Yunnan province in the past couple of months. A 6.5-magnitude quake shook Ludian county on August 3, killing over 600 people and devastating the surrounding area.

[GeneChing]

Loma Preita was 6.9

6.3 magnitude earthquake hits Sichuan, at least 4 reported dead



A powerful earthquake with a 6.3 magnitude struck Sichuan province late Saturday afternoon, Sina News reported. At least four have been reported dead, with more than 50 injured and around 25,000 houses damaged.



Xinhua also reported that the earthquake forced students to flee from a primary school in Tagong town, situated near the epicenter, with 42 of these students injured in a stampede caused by the rush. Currently, all of the injured have been sent to Ganzi People's Hospital in Kangding. Rescuers rushed to the epienter around 6.40pm in the evening.



Residents reported feeling a strong tremor in Chengdu, about 325 km north of the epicenter, according to chinanews.com.




"The house windows were shaking violently. Some people rushed out of the building," a woman in Chengdu said. While no building collapses have been reported, many have sustained injuries from the wreckage caused by shaking houses, and multiple cracks have been seen on other buildings. The situation seems to be stable for now, with no major traffic flows or utility supplies being disrupted.

Large numbers of rescue workers have been mobilized to deal with the extent of the damage.




In 2008, a devastating earthquake that hit the province in 2008 left more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

Photos via Weibo

[GeneChing]