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Rescuers search for survivors in the debris after an earthquake hit Ludian county in Zhaotong, Yunnan province. Photo: AFP
Some 7,000 rescuers dug through shattered homes on Monday looking for survivors of a strong earthquake in Yunnan province that killed at least 398 people and injured almost 1,900.
About 12,000 mostly brick homes collapsed when the magnitude-6.1 quake struck on Sunday afternoon in the impoverished Ludian county, about 370km northeast of Yunnan’s capital, Kunming, Xinhua reported.
Rescuers carry an injured child on a stretcher. Photo: Reuters
The rescuers include some 5,000 soldiers, police officers, and firefighters, who are searching the rubble and working to move the injured out of the quake zone, Xinhua said.
Overhead footage of the quake zone shot by state broadcaster CCTV showed older houses flattened but newer multi-storey buildings still standing.
The streets of Ludian county seat of Zhaotong were like a “battlefield after a bombardment,” resident Ma Liya told Xinhua. She added that her neighbour’s house, a new two-storey building, had toppled, and said the quake was far worse than one that struck the area in 2012 and killed 81 people.
Rescuers try to free a trapped child out of the rubble in the quake-hit Zhichang township of Huize county in Yunnan. Photo: Xinhua
“I have never felt such strong tremors before. All I can see are ruins,” Ma said. “The aftermath is much, much worse than what happened after the quake two years ago.”
The magnitude-6.1 quake struck at 4.30pm on Sunday at a depth of 10km according to the US Geological Survey. Its epicentre was in Ludian county township of Longtoushan, where news website yunnan.cn reported 42,000 homes destroyed or damaged.
The China Earthquake Networks Centre put the magnitude at 6.5.
Injured people wait for help in a hospital in Ludian county. Photo: EPA
Rain and thunderstorms were forecast for the area in the coming hours, complicating efforts to bring tents, water, food and other relief supplies to survivors. Roads had caved in, and rescuers were forced to travel on foot.
The Yunnan Civil Affairs Bureau said on its website that 398 people were killed and 1,801 injured. Another 29,400 people were evacuated, CCTV said. The death toll is expected to rise after rescuers reach remote communities to assess casualties.
Many of the homes that collapsed in Ludian, which has a population of about 429,000, were old and made of brick, Xinhua said, adding that electricity and telecommunications were cut off in the county.
Debris of collapsed houses are seen scattered along a street in Ludian county, Zhaotong, after a deadly earthquake hit Longtoushan town on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
CCTV said it was the strongest quake to hit Yunnan in 14 years. It said a further 49 were killed and 102 injured in nearby Qiaojia county, while four died and dozens more were injured in Huize county.
Premier Li Keqiang was en route to Yunnan to oversee quake relief, Xinhua said.
Disaster struck at 4.30pm with strong tremors felt in several cities in Yunnan, including Qujing and Kunming, and further afield in Chongqing, Leshan and Chengdu in Sichuan province, and Xian in Shaanxi.
Longtoushan and nearby townships are about 50km away from downtown Zhaotong city, which is densely populated. Ludian's seven townships have a population of nearly 430,000.
Cracks and broken plaster at a building in Zhaotong city. Photo: Screenshot weibo
The quake toppled and cracked many buildings, particularly old ones and residential homes, Xinhua reported.
A Ludian resident told Xinhua: "I felt a strong jolt in my fifth-floor home and some small objects fell off the shelves."
Another resident was driving his car when the earthquake struck and said it felt like he was "sailing a boat".
Damage to property in Zhaotong city following the quake. Photo: Screenshot weibo
Almost all houses in a village in Zhichang township, Huize county, collapsed, leaving 11 people injured, the news website people.com.cn reported.
Internet users posted photos showing cracked walls, ruined buildings and people searching among the debris. Local people expressed anger online, blaming authorities for using hollow bricks in poor-quality buildings.
Locals search among the rubble in Yunnan. Photo: Screenshot weibo
One resident told the South China Morning Post such buildings were common in rural areas of Zhaotong city because they were cheap to build. "They are the most dangerous buildings to be in during an earthquake."
More than 2,500 soldiers were rushing to the quake-hit areas. The civil affairs authorities are sending 2,000 tents, 3,000 folding beds, 3,000 quilts and 3,000 coats to the quake region.
The Red Cross Society of China allocated quilts, jackets and tents for those made homeless by the quake, while Red Cross branches in Hong Kong, Macau and neighbouring Sichuan province also sent relief supplies.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday said that he was "saddened by the loss of life, and the damage to homes and infrastructure".
The secretary-general "offers his condolences to the Chinese government and the families of those killed, and his deepest sympathies to those who were injured or otherwise affected in this disaster," said a statement issued by Ban's spokesman.
"The United Nations stands ready to lend its assistance to efforts to respond to humanitarian needs created by the disaster and to mobilize any international support needed," the statement said.
In 1970, a magnitude-7.7 earthquake in Yunnan killed at least 15,000, and a 7.1 quake killed more than 1,400 in 1974.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
Villagers rest under a makeshift tent next to damaged houses, after a deadly earthquake hit Longtoushan town on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
Wang Qiyong was desperate to get food and water to his parents trapped inside Longtoushan township, the epicentre of the earthquake which hit Yunnan province on Sunday.
Wang survived the quake and headed off soon after in search of supplies. Now, with a motorcycle loaded with goods, he was trying to make his way back to the centre of the disaster. But authorities had stopped traffic to give priority to ambulances and medical supply trucks.
“The government’s supply trucks can’t get in there. I’m trying to save my parents myself, but I can’t get in either,” Wang said.
His village lies in a valley about 7km from Longtoushan, where the magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck close to the surface at 4.30pm. At least 410 people were killed and 12 remaining missing, Xinhua said, More than 2,370 people were injured, 80,000 houses have been destroyed or damaged and 230,000 people are in need of shelter.
The only link from Longtoushan to the outside world is through a single muddy road, six metres across, but access has been blocked by landslides. Two bulldozers were trying to remove a boulder of the size of a minibus but without success.
Wang, 32, bought more than a 1,000 yuan (HK$1,256) worth of water, food and tents. “My parents, both over 60 years old, were trapped inside [the quake zone] overnight, with nothing to eat or drink. They slept outside on the ground in the freezing cold,” Wang told the South China Morning Post. “What they show on television makes it look like things are alright, but the reality is very different.”
Xinhua reported the provincial government had allocated 23 million yuan for emergency relief. More than 31,000 tents, 295,000 blankets, 17,000 folding beds and 25,000 coats were being delivered to affected areas.
Wang said more than 10 households in their village – mostly extended family members – were buried in the quake. Wang’s niece, who was about to enter high school, was the only other survivor. She was pulled from the rubble after being buried for more than 10 hours.
“Thank God she survived. She’s the most educated person in our family,” Wang said.
A villager in Longjing village, also in Longtoushan, said 70 per cent of houses had collapsed. Yi Shaozhen saw a huge stone strike her sister. “Her entire upper body was gone,” Yi, 35, told the Post. “The dead can be dug out slowly, but the ones alive are starving to death, as no rescue supplies have reached us,” she said amid sobs
Residents of Longquan village yesterday had their first hot meal since the disaster struck after subsisting on dry instant noodles.
Premier Li Keqiang visited victims being treated in the Ludian County Hospital, and encouraged them to remain strong and not lose hope, state radio reported.
Li said the government would pay their hospital fees until they fully recovered, China National Radio reported.
Meanwhile, authorities are trying to drain a lake, formed by falling rock and containing more than 3,000 cubic metres of water, in neighbouring Huize. It threatens to flood nearby villages, and at least 5,000 people downstream have been evacuated, state media reported. Authorities are planning to blast away a rock that is blocking a path to drain the water.
A woman cries as she stands in the rubble of her home in Longtoushan town - the epicentre of the earthquake. Photo: Reuters
The death toll from the magnitude-6.5 earthquake in Yunnan jumped to 589 yesterday, as the 72-hour "golden period" for finding more people alive lapsed.
Local fire services said rescue work would continue, as reports emerged of the survival of an 88-year-old woman who was buried under rubble in Ludian county for over 50 hours.
Rescuers said she was not hurt and in fine health, Xinhua said.
The death toll shot up from the 410 given on Tuesday after rescue teams reached remote villages that could not be accessed earlier, Xinhua reported.
Priority has now shifted to getting resources to survivors.
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A panoramic view of the earthquake zone in Longtoushan township, on Aug 06. Photo by Simon Song
"We will not rest until the last missing person is pulled from the rubble," said Yuan Zhengxiong , an information officer with Zhaotong city fire services. "However, what we are doing most now is helping to carry coffins into villages for victims to bury their loved ones and carry tents, food and water to those who have survived."
Behind the main street in Longtoushan - epicentre of the quake that struck on Sunday - are ruins where a four-level building was flattened into a single-storey structure.
Wang Ping , 40, moved to Longtoushan from Sichuan province 13 years ago and rented a flat there.
She was standing with a dozen rescuers on top of the ruins, waiting anxiously even though she knew there was no hope. Her electrician husband Li Gang and her 19-year-old elder son, a civil engineering student at Wuhan University, have been buried for over 72 hours.
Villagers unload relief supplies from a helicopter at Longjing village, Longtoushan. Photo: Xinhua"
I was told to give up hope," said Wang, who has left her 12-year-old son behind and headed to the ruins at sunrise every day since the disaster struck and not returned home until sunset.
"They already found my husband. They could see his face but his upper body was crushed by three and a half storeys of rubble.
"He was sleeping that afternoon and my elder son was playing with a computer next to him. They still couldn't confirm where he was buried," Wang said.
Rescue workers were spraying disinfectant in every tent yesterday to prevent outbreaks of disease.
