August 3, 2014
The 6.5-magnitude quake reduces much of the Longtoushan township in the southwestern Yunnan Province to rubble.
August 3, 2014
The 6.5-magnitude quake reduces much of the Longtoushan township in the southwestern Yunnan Province to rubble.
In this photo taken by cellphone and released by China's Xinhua News Agency, men at rubbles of buildings look for survivors after an earthquake in Ludian County of Zhaotong City in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Sunday.
At least 150 people were reported killed after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck a remote corner of southwestern China’s Yunnan Province on Sunday afternoon.
The earthquake, which hit Yunnan at 4.30 p.m. local time (2 p.m. IST), reduced much of the township of Longtoushan in Ludian county, where the epicentre was located, to rubble, according to official reports and photographs posted on Chinese websites.
Residents and rescuers faced a daunting task to search for survivors as night fell and authorities began confronting the challenge of dispatching rescue teams and heavy equipment to the remote and mountainous region.
Extensive damage was reported in a number of towns in Ludian, which is home to a quarter of a million people in seven townships. The remote region is among China’s poorest counties, located around 300 km from the provincial capital Kunming, in a northeast corner of Yunnan, a province which borders Myanmar.
Reports said a number of residential buildings and older structures had collapsed. Photographs showed residents desperately trying to sift through large piles of rubble, initially without any equipment, as they searched for survivors.
The epicentre of the 6.5-quake was recorded at a depth of 12 km, the China Earthquakes Network Centre was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. The area was also struck by earthquakes in 2012, when more than 80 people were killed. In 1974, an earthquake that struck the region left more than 1,400 people killed, Xinhua reported.
Courtesy: Reuters
