May 12, 2008, 12:06 GMT
Beijing - An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale killed at least 107 people, injured hundreds more, and buried nearly 900 students in south-western China Monday, the government and local officials said.
The earthquake struck at 2:28 pm (0628 GMT) in Wenchuan county, Sichuan province, and could be felt in cities hundreds of kilometres away, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bangkok.
At least four teenagers were confirmed dead after the earthquake caused school buildings to collapse and bury nearly 900 students at the Juyuan Middle School in Sichuan's Dujiangyan city, about 100 kilometres from the epicentre of the earthquake, the official Xinhua news agency quoted local officials as saying.
One Dujiangyan resident told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone that her five-storey apartment block and many other buildings in the city were seriously damaged by the earthquake.
The woman said she and her family were staying outdoors on a playgroud but had no umbrellas or waterproof jackets to protect them from rain falling on the city.
A spokesman for the Sichuan provincial seismological bureau told Xinhua that 'whole rows of houses' had collapsed in Dujiangyan.
The earthquake also affected Sichuan's capital, Chengdu, and nearby Chongqing.
More reports of casualties came from Chongqing's Liangping county, where four children died and more than 100 were injured at two primary schools which collapsed during the earthquake, the agency said.
The epicentre was about 95 kilometres west-north-west from Chengdu in Wenchuan county, which has a population of 112,000.
The local government of Aba prefecture, which administers Wenzhou, said all traffic was cut to Wenchuan and the nearby Lixian and Maoxian, with landslides and extensive damage to roads and buildings also reported in other areas of Aba.
Officials in Lixian county had reported one person dead and eight seriously injured, the Aba government said.
At least one more person died when a water tower collapsed in Sichuan's Santai county, reports said.
Initial reports put the magnitude at 7.6 but the State Seismological Bureau later upgraded it to 7.8, while an official at the Beijing Seismological Bureau said it was measured at 8.0.
Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Chengdu and was travelling to Wenchuan to supervise relief work, urging officials and members of the ruling Communist Party to 'work on the front line' to lead relief efforts.
President Hu Jintao also issued a statement urging 'all-out efforts to help those affected' by the quake.
The People's Liberation Army dispatched 5,000 troops from Chengdu to help in relief work and damage assessment in Wenchuan.
Flights to and from Chengdu were suspended, and a main road near Chengdu's southern railway station flooded after the quake fractured an underground water pipe, the agency said.
Mobile telephone services were briefly cut off in Chengdu and Chongqing, while workers were evacuated from some major office towers in Shanghai.
A tremor measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale was recorded in Beijing's eastern suburb of Tongzhou at 2:35 pm.
State television ran a statement form the Beijing seismological bureau to deny rumours that it had forecast a strong earthquake for the city in the next few days.
In Hong Kong, people rang emergency services in panic when the earthquake made the ground shake and buildings sway in the city of 6.9 million, 1,360 kilometres south-east from Chengdu. There were no reports of injuries or damage in Hong Kong.
Lee Chia-yen, a spokesman for Taiwan's Travel Agent Association of the ROC, said the association was urgently trying to locate 2,360 Taiwanese tourists from nine tour groups now traveling in Chengdu and other scenic spots in Sichuan. It was not immediately known if any of these tourists were injured, he said.
Earlier Monday, an undersea earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale shook Taiwan. There were no reports of damage or casualties from the quake that struck at 10:43 am (0243 GMT), 3.4 kilometres under the sea off Taiwan's eastern Orchid Island, the Seismological Observation Centre said.
Seismologists in Taiwan said the earthquake was unrelated to the one in Wenchuan.
In Brussels, meanwhile, the European Commission said it was ready to offer China aid following Sichuan earthquake.
'We are ready to assist if the need arises,' European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel said.
View blog reactions
Add your comment (no registration required)
page: 1
xXSticksNStonesXxMay 12th, 2008 - 19:11:22
Hello.
Report this comment
Advertising
xXSticksNStonesXxMay 12th, 2008 - 19:11:22
Hello.
Report this comment