The death toll from the strong earthquake that struck southwestern China’s Sichuan province rose from 21 to 46, according to a new report from China’s public television channel CCTV.
According to state television, authorities in the city of Ya’an, close to the epicenter, were responsible for 17 deaths, while in neighboring Garze province, the total number of fatalities is currently 29, with 16 still reported missing and 50 injured.
The earthquake measuring 6.8 degrees on the Richter scale, according to Chinese authorities, and 6.6 degrees according to the United States Institute of Geological Studies (USGS), shook the village of Luding at 12:52 (local time). , 5:52 AM in Lisbon), the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Sichuan Province, which borders the Tibetan Plateau where the tectonic plates meet, is regularly hit by earthquakes.
Two earthquakes recorded last June have caused at least four deaths.
In connection with the earthquake recorded this Monday, local authorities have not only confirmed the number of deaths, but also reported landslides, damage to homes and power cuts.
A landslide blocked a rural road, leaving it strewn with rocks, the Ministry of Emergency Management said.
The earthquake was felt 200 kilometers away in the provincial capital of Chengdu, where most of its 21 million residents are confined to their homes to stop a Covid-19 outbreak.
The deadliest earthquake in China in recent years, measuring 7.9, occurred in 2008, killing nearly 90,000 people in Sichuan.
The earthquake devastated cities, schools and rural communities outside the provincial capital of Chengdu, prompting reconstruction with stronger materials.
The epicenter of the most recent earthquake is in a mountainous area about 200 kilometers southwest of Chengdu.
Source: DN
