BEIJING (Reuters) – A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck China’s Sichuan on Monday, the strongest to hit the province since 2013, with the shaking felt within the provincial capital of Chengdu and lots of of kilometres away within the cities of Xian and Changsha.
There have been no rapid reviews of any casualties whereas media reported some injury.
The epicentre was on the city of Luding at a depth of 16 km (10 miles), the China Earthquake Networks Centre mentioned, about 226 km (140 miles) southwest of Chengdu, a metropolis of about 21 million individuals.
“The shaking was fairly robust and it lasted for some time,” mentioned Shirley Li, who lives on the thirtieth flooring of an residence block in Chengdu, which is below a COVID-19 lockdown, after struggling summer time heatwaves.
“It has been a tough time for us – heatwaves, the COVID lockdown and now the earthquake.”
An aftershock of a magnitude of 4.2 struck town of Yaan, about 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Chengdu, minutes later.
Earthquakes are widespread within the southwestern province of Sichuan, particularly its mountains within the west, a tectonically energetic space alongside the japanese boundary of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.
In Luding, the quake was so robust it was exhausting for some individuals to stay standing whereas cracks appeared on some homes, in accordance with state media China Information Service.
Video clips posted on social media confirmed lights swinging whereas individuals rushed out of buildings into the streets.
A complete of 39,000 individuals dwell inside a 20-km (12.5 miles) radius of the epicentre and 1.55 million inside a 100-km (62 miles) radius, in accordance with state tv.
The quake was Sichuan’s largest since April 2013 when a magnitude 7.0 quake hit town Yaan, killing greater than 100 individuals and injuring 1000’s.
“We heard the alarm sound by way of audio system 20 or 30 seconds earlier than the earthquake,” mentioned a Chengdu resident surnamed Yang.
Audio system broadcasting earthquake alarms are put in in communities and kindergartens and first faculties, Yang mentioned.
Essentially the most highly effective Sichuan earthquake on report was in Might 2008 when a magnitude 8.0 quake centred in Wenchuan killed virtually 70,000 individuals and precipitated intensive injury.
Monday’s quake was felt as distant as Changsha in Hunan province and Xian in Shaanxi province lots of of kilometres away, in accordance with social media posts.
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