Death Toll From China Quake Rises to 38

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

HONG KONG— The death toll from a 5.7-magnitude earthquake in China’s Sichuan province at the weekend rose to 38, as authorities sent emergency relief to the southwestern region for tens of thousands of people whose homes were destroyed.

The quake hit near the city of Panzhihua on Saturday, killing 32 people in the province, six in neighboring Yunnan province and injuring more than 500, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

Sichuan is still rebuilding cities devastated by a 7.9- magnitude earthquake that hit the southwestern province in May, killing 69,226 people and leaving 15 million homeless. It was the nation’s deadliest temblor in 32 years.

Authorities are sending 6,500 tents and 20,000 quilts to areas of Sichuan affected by the latest earthquake, and 3,200 tents and 3,000 quilts to Yunnan, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on its Web site yesterday. Rainstorms forecast in the coming week may make relief work more difficult, Xinhua said.

More than 258,000 houses were damaged and 152,000 people were displaced, the ministry said. Seven reservoirs, 22 highways, and three bridges were also damaged, Xinhua reported.

In Yunnan, more than 130,000 homes were destroyed, affecting 600,000 people, according to the news agency’s report, which cited civil affairs officials in the province.

Rail services on the line from Sichuan’s capital, Chengdu, to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, resumed Sunday after suffering some disruptions on Saturday, Xinhua said.

Sichuan has been struck by a number of smaller quakes since May, including two 6.1-magnitude temblors that rocked the region on August 1 and August 5.

The May quake increased stress on faults in and around the Sichuan basin, which may generate “large aftershocks in the near future,” according to a study by Tom Parsons of the U.S. Geological Survey published in the journal Nature.

That temblor appears to have ruptured the Beichuan fault, which runs along the edge of the Longmen Shan mountain range, Mr. Parsons wrote. Officials need to identify other areas where faults may have been damaged to mitigate destruction from future aftershocks, Mr. Parsons wrote.


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use