Tourists among 19 killed in Sichuan quake
247 hurt after 7.0 temblor hits remote region
JIUZHAIGOU: A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck a remote, mountainous part of China’s south-western province of Sichuan, killing 19 people, including eight tourists, and injuring 247, the provincial government and official media said.
The quake hit a sparsely populated area 200km north-west of the city of Guangyuan late on Tuesday at a depth of 10km, the US Geological Survey said. It was also close to the Jiuzhaigou nature reserve, a tourist destination.
Sichuan is frequently struck by tremors. A huge quake there in May 2008 killed almost 70,000 people.
A separate quake of magnitude 6.6 hit a remote part of China’s far north-western region of Xinjiang, more than 2,000km away, yesterday, the Chinese earthquake administration said. The People’s Daily said 32 people had been injured in the mostly rural area.
The Sichuan government said rescuers were gradually evacuating tourists and residents who had been cut off by landslides.
It added that 19 people had been killed, but most of those injured were not seriously hurt.
The dead included eight tourists, two residents and nine whose identities have yet to be confirmed, state television said.
In nearby Longnan in the neighbouring province of Gansu, also jolted by the quake, eight people died in landslides caused by heavy rain, the People’s Daily said.
The Sichuan government added that 45,000 tourists had been evacuated from the quake zone with just 1,000 more still waiting to leave.
A few dozen tourists were camped out at Jiuzhaigou airport, waiting for flights.
The airport was open and beginning to evacuate people by air, state media said.
A traveller with a young daughter who gave his family name as Li said he was in his hotel when the earthquake hit.
“The walls and floor shook. Some things fell off the table,” he said.
Some people were injured in the hotel but most were fine.
“The rescue services showed up quickly and gave us water and things to eat,” Li said, adding that he received priority in evacuation since he was accompanied by a small child.
“At first the road was blocked, but they had cleared a lane this morning for ambulances.”
A French man and a Canadian woman suffered light injuries, Xinhua reported.
All 341 Taiwan tourists in 19 tour groups were safe, the government of the self-ruled island said.
The Sichuan government dismissed as overblown earlier fears that part of a hotel had collapsed, saying damage proved minor and everyone was evacuated safely.
The Sichuan earthquake administration, which also assessed the quake magnitude at 7.0, said its epicentre was in Ngawa prefecture, populated chiefly by ethnic Tibetans, many of whom are nomadic herders.
The area was rattled by aftershocks yesterday.
Pictures on state-run social media sites showed some damage in Jiuzhaigou, with tiles having fallen off buildings and people gathering outdoors. — Reuters