Earthquake in China Kills 19
A powerful earthquake hit the southwest region of China late Tuesday evening, leaving at least 19 people dead and hundreds of others injured.
The earthquake hit Jiuzhaigou County in China’s Sichuan Province.
There has been some disagreement over the earthquake’s magnitude. The US Geological Survey said that they measured the quake at a magnitude of 6.5, while the China Earthquake Networks Centre measured the quake at 7.0.
The majority of injuries and deaths occurred in Zhangzha township, situated near the famed Jiuzhaigou National Park – a popular tourist attraction.
Chinese authorities have confirmed that at least 5 of the 19 people killed were tourists.
According to Chinese news reports, 247 people were injured in the quake, 40 of them in a serious condition.
Following the quake, China’s Earthquake Administration launched a ‘Level 1’ emergency response, the highest level of emergency response in the country.
Rescuers are still operating in the affected area, rummaging through debris and looking for survivors.
Chinese authorities have also ordered evacuations in the area in case of aftershocks. More than 2800 people have been evacuated from the popular Jiuzhai Paradise Hotel, which was badly damaged in the quake.
According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, satellite images taken on Tuesday after the quake show no major building collapses.
It did, however, show that the earthquake triggered a series of landslides across the country.
Another earthquake in the country, close to the Kazakhstan border, was recorded on Wednesday morning. The second quake recorded a magnitude of 6.3, according to the US Geological Survey.
No injuries or deaths related to this earthquake have been reported in the region in either China or Kazakhstan.
Image credit: Rescuers rummage through debris in Jiuzhaigou County (2017) [online image] sourced on 10 August 2017 at http://time.com/4890523/north-korea-china-earthquake-disney-netflix/
