Rescuers scoured rubble for hundreds of missing people in parts of southwest China on Tuesday after an earthquake killed more than 60 people, as the local weather service warned rain would flood the area.
The 6.6-magnitude quake struck Monday about 43 kilometers (26 miles) southeast of the city of Kangding in Sichuan province at a depth of 10 kilometers, according to the US Geological Survey.
At least 65 people have been killed, state media reported Tuesday morning, with more than 200 still trapped in a remote scenic area and dozens missing elsewhere.
Video released by state broadcaster CCTV showed firefighters pulling an injured and bleeding woman from the rubble and carrying a survivor on a stretcher across a makeshift bridge across a river, as well as damaged buildings and roads littered with fallen brickwork.
And footage shared by the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) showed boulders thundering down mountainsides in Luding County, kicking up clouds of dust as the tremors rattled roadside telephone wires.
At least one city suffered “severe damage” from landslides triggered by the quake, CCTV reported.
“Before 5 p.m. I heard a rumble. The house was shaking so much that I woke up immediately,” a woman surnamed Zheng from Lu County in Sichuan told Beijing News.
“My brother’s house collapsed. His house is an old one built more than 10 years ago. My house is newly built, so the situation is better.”
– ‘Everything to save people’ –
The quake also shook buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu – where millions are confined to their homes due to a strict Covid-19 lockdown – and in the nearby megacity of Chongqing, local residents told AFP.
At least 10 aftershocks, measuring 3.0 and above, were detected as of 7 a.m. local time (2300 GMT), CCTV said.
The local meteorological department said it will rain for three days in Luding district – the epicenter of the quake – which could potentially hamper rescue work.
China’s cabinet last night said it had dispatched a special team to lead the effort, with CCTV reporting that more than 6,500 people had been sent for emergency rescue.
And President Xi Jinping urged local authorities to “make saving lives the top priority, do everything possible to save people in disaster areas and minimize loss of life,” according to CCTV.
Local officials have launched a public fundraiser for relief efforts.
– Region prone to earthquakes –
Earthquakes are fairly common in China, particularly in the seismically active southwest of the country.
A magnitude 4.6 quake struck eastern Tibet less than an hour after the initial quake, according to the USGS.
An 8.0 magnitude tremor in Wenchuan County, Sichuan, in 2008 killed tens of thousands and caused extensive damage.
In June, two earthquakes in southwest China killed at least four people and injured dozens more.
This month, a shallow magnitude 6.1 shock hit a sparsely populated area about 100 kilometers west of Chengdu.
A second 4.5 magnitude quake followed three minutes later in a nearby county, killing and injuring.
Authorities in Chengdu extended the city’s lockdown on Sunday as they battled a Covid flare-up with hundreds of cases.
The region has also endured a summer of extreme weather, with a record-breaking heatwave noticeably drying up rivers in Chongqing.
