Three fatalities amid quakes in SW China's Yunnan Province
22/8/2008 17:27
Local authorities today confirmed two more people died in yesterday's
5.9-magnitude tremor in Yunnan Province, bringing the death toll to three, as a
series of quakes hit the southwest China region this week.
Government
officials in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, did not
disclose the identities of those killed
Relief efforts are under
way.
China's earthquake network recorded two quakes in Yingjiang, a county on
the Sino-Myanmar border, yesterday: one 4.9-magnitude event at 8:20 p.m. and
another 5.9-magnitude quake four minutes later.
Information from the
provincial civil affairs bureau said that apart from the three deaths, the dual
quakes injured 106 people, including 24 seriously. They also toppled numerous
residences, forcing the evacuation of 120,000 people.
There was also damage
to transport, power, water and communications infrastructure, as well as
education and health facilities. Blackouts were reported in the county seat of
Yingjiang and some of its townships. Some areas got their power back by 10:20 pm
yesterday.
The Civil Affairs Ministry sent a special working group to assess
the situation and offer assistance. It also allocated 5,000 tents from the
disaster relief reserve of the central government.
A seven-member panel of
seismologists from the China Earthquake Administration left for the area today,
to join 50 local earthquake specialists already in Yingjiang.
The Yunnan
Provincial Communist Party and government authorities were monitoring the
situation closely in Yingjiang. Governor Qin Guangrong today went to visit the
region.
The Yunnan Civil Affairs Bureau sent materials including 2,150 tents
and 3,300 quilts to Yingjiang, while the provincial health bureau dispatched 10
medical workers.
A team of 1,300 people from the Yunnan border guard
detachment, with more than 80 vehicles, joined the relief efforts.
The two
quakes were preceded by a tremor in the county measuring 5.0 on the Richter
scale at 5:35 am on Wednesday, with the epicenter located at Sudian Township, 46
km from the Yingjiang county seat.
More than 110 aftershocks of up to 3.6 on
the Richter scale had been recorded as of 6 pm yesterday, shortly before the
pair of quakes.
The livelihoods of more than 14,000 people were affected and
3,400 others were evacuated after Wednesday's tremor. No one had been reported
injured.
The tremor destroyed six homes and damaged 4,056 others, and many of
the damaged residences were in dangerous condition. It also damaged 17 school
buildings, 28 dormitories and some communication facilities.
About 2,500
people, including police and government officials, participated in the rescue
effort. The local government allocated 100,000 yuan (US$14,609) for disaster
relief.
The affected area has a population density of 45 people per square km
and lies at an average altitude of 2,000 meters.
Xinhua
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