At Least 73 Dead In Twin China Quakes

Rescuers rushed to find victims buried by twin shallow earthquakes in northwest China Monday after the double tremors killed 73 people and injured more than 400, officials said.

The government of Dingxi city in Gansu province, which was hit by quakes with magnitudes of 5.9 and 5.6, gave the figures on a verified social media account.

“More than 21,000 buildings were severely damaged and more than 1,200 have collapsed,” an official at the provincial earthquake bureau told AFP, adding that 371 aftershocks had been recorded.



The tremor set off landslides which buried often crudely constructed local houses, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Pictures from the scene showed simple buildings reduced to rubble, with the pieces of corrugated metal scattered over the wreckage.

In one location 12 people were buried, the broadcaster quoted a witness as saying. “The rescue work is tough, because the house has been completely buried,” the man said.

More than 2,000 soldiers, 300 police, 50 medical staff and two helicopters had been sent to the area, the official Xinhua news agency said.

“We are rushing to the scene,” Dingxi’s vice-mayor told CCTV, which showed an orange-suited rescue worker riding on a tractor.

“The damage to houses made from earth bricks has been severe and many are now unusable,” the official said, adding that the number of people buried by the quake was still being estimated.

More than 700 rescue workers had arrived at the scene, CCTV said.
The US Geological Survey said the initial 5.9-magnitude quake hit at 7:45 am (2345 GMT Sunday) at a depth of just 9.8 kilometres.

A second 5.6-magnitude tremor hit the same region at 9:12 am and was 10.1 kilometres deep, USGS said.

Vanguard