A 6.6 magnitude earthquake was registered early today in China’s western Gansu province killing 54 people, and injuring hundreds, according to the municipal government.
The quake hit Minxian and Zhangxian counties, about 170 km (105 miles) southeast of the provincial capital of Lanzhou, at 7.45 on Monday morning, the official Xinhua news agency said.
It put the number of people seriously injured at 296.
Eight towns in the remote, mountainous area sustained serious damage in the quake and subsequent flooding and mudslides, state media said.
There were also power outages, while cell phone and Internet coverage was disrupted, residents and state media reported. The Red Cross Society of China said it had sent relief supplies to the affected areas, including jackets and tents.
«Many have been injured by collapsed houses,» said a Minxian county doctor surnamed Du. «Many villagers have gone to local hospitals along the roads.»
About 380 buildings had collapsed and 5,600 sustained damaged in Zhangxian county, the Dingxi municipal government said in a microblog post.
A school building in Minxian county was also damaged, a teacher in the area said, although he said he didn’t believe any students were injured because they were away on summer holidays.
A second 5.6 earthquake struck the same region about 90 minutes after the first, Xinhua said, the most significant of several aftershocks. The United States Geological Survey said the first quake had a magnitude of 5.9.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald