BEIJING: Rescuers scoured through rubble for hundreds of missing people in parts of southwestern China on Tuesday (Sep 6) after an earthquake killed more than 60, as local weather services warned rain was set to inundate the area.
The magnitude 6.6 quake hit about 43km southeast of the city of Kangding in Sichuan province at a depth of 10km on Monday, according to the US Geological Survey.
At least 65 people were killed, state media reported on Tuesday morning, with more than 200 still trapped in a remote scenic area and scores missing elsewhere.
Video from state broadcaster CCTV showed firefighters pulling a bruised and bloodied woman from the rubble and carrying a survivor on a stretcher across a river on a makeshift bridge as well as damaged buildings and streets strewn with fallen masonry.
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 swayed roadside telephone wires.
At least one town suffered “severe damage” from landslides triggered by the quake, CCTV reported.
“Before 5 o’clock, I heard a rumbling sound. The house shook so badly that I woke up immediately,” one woman surnamed Zheng from Sichuan’s Lu county 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.”