One dead, 70,000 more homes collapsed in China aftershock
Pastor Dale Morgan
One dead, 70,000 more homes collapsed in China aftershock*
AFP
AFP - 1 hour 34 minutes ago
CHENGDU, China (AFP) - - At least one person died and more than 260
others were injured Sunday in southwest China by the strongest
aftershock since a massive quake two weeks ago, authorities and state
media said.
The aftershock, which measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, also destroyed
more than 70,000 homes and left 200,000 others in danger of collapse,
Xinhua news agency reported, quoting a local disaster relief official.
An official at the Sichuan Earthquake Bureau told AFP that it had been
the strongest of more than 8,000 aftershocks detected since the
8.0-magnitude quake on May 12 that destroyed large swathes of
southwestern Sichuan province.
The US Geological Survey put the magnitude of Sunday's aftershock at 5.8.
State television quoted an earthquake relief official in the city of
Guangyuan, north of the provincial capital Chengdu, as saying the
aftershock caused at least one death and 262 injuries in that city.
The same official, Wang Fei, was later quoted by Xinhua as saying about
71,300 homes had collapsed in Guangyuan on Sunday and more than 200,000
others were in danger of collapsing.
Xinhua reported that 26 of the people injured were in serious condition.
The quake -- which struck mid-afternoon and was centred about 250
kilometres (155 miles) northeast of
Chengdu -- sent people fleeing from buildings in the provincial capital,
AFP correspondents witnessed.
"Houses started to shake and everybody went out into the street,"
Chengdu resident Lou Taiyi told AFP.
"We were thinking (May 12) was behind us but it is continuing," he said.
However, residents soon began filtering back inside soon after the
quake, with many taking it in stride.
"I am not afraid. We are getting used to it," a young woman, walking
down a Chengdu street with two female friends, told AFP.
The death toll from the May 12 quake rose again on Sunday, with the
government putting the figure at 62,664, with another 23,775 listed as
missing.