Deadly earthquake hits south-west China

More than 100 killed and thousands of homes damaged in 6.6-magnitude quake near Ya'an, Sichuan  province

Rescuers help an injured woman in Baosheng township, Lushan county

China's premier, Li Keqiang, shakes hands with a rescuer as he visits a site damaged by the earthquake

An aerial view shows houses damaged in the quake

China earthquake: rescue workers in Qingren, Lushan County. Landslides have left large rocks and mud on roads

 

 At least 156 people are dead and more than 5,500 injured after a powerful earthquake rocked Sichuan, in south-west China, on Saturday morning, officials said. The 6.6-magnitude shock is believed to have been on the same fault as the devastating quake that left 70,000 dead and another 18,000 missing in the province five years ago. It struck close to Ya'an, a city of 1.5 million people west of the provincial capital, Chengdu, at about 8am local time.

 At least 156 people are dead and more than 5,500 injured after a powerful earthquake rocked Sichuan, in south-west China, on Saturday morning, officials said.
The 6.6-magnitude shock is believed to have been on the same fault as the devastating quake that left 70,000 dead and another 18,000 missing in the province five years ago. It struck close to Ya'an, a city of 1.5 million people west of the provincial capital, Chengdu, at about 8am local time.

The China Earthquake Administration said at least 156 people had died. The government of Ya'an said more than 5,500 people were injured, 330 of them seriously.

Officials said almost all the buildings in Longmen village collapsed during the minute-long tremor. "It was such a big quake that everyone was scared," a woman who answered a phone at a nursery told the Associated Press. "We all fled for our lives."

Nearly 10,000 houses throughout Lushan county were damaged. In some areas, roads were cut off, power failed and telecoms service was intermittent.

Rescuers used dynamite to clear boulders that had fallen across roads in order to reach Longmen and other damaged areas lying farther up the mountain valleys, state media reported.

More than 6,000 soldiers have been dispatched to aid rescue efforts in the mountainous area. China's president, Xi Jinping, and the premier, Li Keqiang, called an emergency meeting to co-ordinate the response and Li has flown to the disaster zone to supervise work, the official broadcaster reported.

Initial reports suggested the worst damage was in rural villages around Ya'an, which lies on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. The state news agency Xinhua reported major building collapses and damaged roads in Shuangshi and Longmen townships.

Footage on China Central Television showed a makeshift triage centre in a square outside Lushan county hospital where medical personnel bandaged bleeding victims.

A man who answered the phone at the Jiajia Hotel in Ya'an said many houses had collapsed and many people were injured.

Another man living nearby said officials and company bosses had evacuated everyone to outdoor spaces. "It is very chaotic everywhere and people have no idea what we can do," he said. "We were the frontline of [the May 2008] earthquake, so in most companies, departments or organisations there are emergency resources, but we need more. Hopefully we can get over it soon, and it won't be as bad as last time."

Lushan, where the quake struck, lies where the fertile Sichuan plain meets foothills that eventually rise to the Tibetan plateau, and sits atop the Longmenshan fault. It was along that faultline that a devastating magnitude-7.9 quake struck on 12 May 2008, leaving more than 90,000 people dead or missing and presumed dead. It was one of the worst natural disasters to strike China in recent decades.

"It was just like May 12," Liu Xi, a writer in Ya'an who was jolted awake by Saturday's quake, said via a private message on Weibo, a Twitter-like service. "All the home decorations fell at once, and the old house cracked."

Chinese seismologists recorded the quake at magnitude 7, while the US Geological Survey recorded it at magnitude 6.6 at a depth of 12km.

Residents in Chengdu and Chongqing, hundreds of miles away, fled their buildings as they felt the tremor and repeated aftershocks. Chengdu airport was briefly closed to air traffic and railway officials halted 82 trains, China Daily reported.