In China, a rescue operation is underway for the survivors of the powerful earthquake that hit the Yunnan province in the southwest of China, in which at least 381 people died.
In the area affected by the earthquake, more than 12.000 houses were demolished, while 30.000 were damaged, the Chinese agency Xinhua announced, and the agency AFP reported. According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake had a magnitude of 6,1 on the Richter scale, while the Chinese Seismological Service estimated it at 6,5 on the Richter scale.
Data on the dead and injured are still being collected. The epicenter of the earthquake was at a shallow depth of only 10 km, below the city of Longtoushan, which was the hardest hit. Chinese state television said it was the strongest earthquake in the Yunnan region in the past 14 years. Even today, the morning after the disaster, rescuers are searching the ruins of buildings in a desperate search for survivors, but their rescue efforts are hampered by heavy rain.
In Ludian County, which was the hardest hit by the earthquake, Xinhua reports that "survivors, wet to the skin, sit by the muddy roads waiting for food and medicine to be delivered. Some of them stand half-naked in the open, shivering in the rain."
That agency stated that a total of 7.000 people are working to rescue survivors, including 5.000 soldiers, policemen and firefighters, and the rescue operation uses digging machines and equipment to discover survivors under the ruins. Data from the Chinese Ministry of Internal Affairs show that a total of 381 people died in the earthquake, and that 1.801 were injured.
According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake had a magnitude of 6,1 on the Richter scale, while the Chinese Seismological Service estimated it at 6,5. Chinese state television said it was the strongest earthquake in the Yunnan region in the past 14 years.
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