In the aftermath of China’s most devastating earthquake in years, which claimed the lives of 135 individuals, survivors are now recovering in hospitals while rescue teams intensify their efforts. The toll increased from the previous day’s count, reaching 135, according to the state news agency Xinhua. The quake, striking northwestern Qinghai Province, triggered soil liquefaction, leading to a challenging search for victims.
The powerful and shallow tremor, occurring on Monday night, left nearly 1,000 people injured across Qinghai and the neighboring Gansu province. At the Jishishan County People’s Hospital in Gansu, doctors are attending to survivors with mild injuries, conducting intravenous drips, and examining X-rays in buildings visibly damaged by the quake.
“I really want to go home,” expressed one patient, a middle-aged woman awaiting surgery on her injured leg. “But my place has been destroyed, so I wonder where I can go,” she added. Anxiety persists among the affected population, with concerns about aftershocks disrupting their sleep due to the absence of a perceived safe haven.
The US Geological Survey reported that the magnitude-5.9 earthquake struck at 11:59 pm on Monday, its epicenter approximately 100 kilometers from Gansu’s provincial capital, Lanzhou. Subsequent smaller aftershocks raised alarms, and authorities cautioned that tremors exceeding a magnitude of 5.0 could occur in the coming days.
Overnight rescue efforts appear to have reached more survivors in rural Gansu, as evident from the deployment of government-issued blue tents in Jishishan. These tents replaced improvised shelters constructed by residents immediately after the quake. Meanwhile, in Qinghai province, 12 individuals remain missing following a “sand boil” disaster on Tuesday, which tragically buried people alive in Zhongchuan Township, according to Xinhua.
Stay tuned for further updates as the situation unfolds.
By AFP
