Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday morning urged local authorities to ““make every effort” to treat the injured, restore infrastructure and resettle those affected.
It is China’s deadliest earthquake since the August 2014 earthquake in western Yunnan province, which killed 617, but a far cry from the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province, which killed at least 70,000.
The local press points out that last night’s earthquake claimed a “significant number of victims” due to the “low seismic resistance” of the buildings in those regions, adding the time of the earthquake at night. “no room for maneuver to carry out an evacuation in a timely manner”notes the Global Times newspaper.
Some residents told local newspaper The Paper that many people were asleep when the earthquake struck and had no time to take shelter.
This newspaper also cites the testimony of a woman whose house collapsed instantly and who was able to escape because she was still awake when the earthquake occurred.
On the sidelines, videos and photos circulating on Chinese social networks today showed firefighters trying to rescue residents buried under rubble, and several stricken people taking shelter among duvets on the roads.
In response, authorities sent supplies including 2,600 tents, 10,400 folding beds, 10,400 duvets and 1,000 stoves.
As of Tuesday morning, a total of 111,500 relief items had been allocated, Xinhua added, to meet the basic needs of the affected people.
According to a preliminary analysis by the China Earthquake Networks Center, the epicenter occurred in the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, a seismic zone that regularly experiences earthquakes because it is close to where the tectonic plates of Asia and China meet. to collide. India, in the Himalayas.
Another seismic movement, with a magnitude of 5.5, was recorded today in China’s Xinjiang region, also in the northwest but far from inhabited areas, with no reports of personal or property damage.
Source: El heraldo
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
