2,000 dead & 10,000 injured in 7.1-magnitude quake in China's Qinghai

bhramos

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A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit northwest China's Qinghai Province early on Wednesday, the China Earthquake Networks Center said. (Xinhua/Meng Lijing)
YUSHU, Qinghai, April 14 (Xinhua) -- About 300 people have died and 8,000 others were injured after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit northwest China's Qinghai Province early on Wednesday, a local official said.

Many others are still buried under the debris of collapsed houses near the epicenter, said Huang Limin, deputy secretary-general of the government of the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu.

About 700 soldiers are now struggling to clear away the rubble and rescue the buried people, a spokesman with the Qinghai Provincial Emergency Office said.

More than 5,000 additional rescuers, including soldiers and medical workers have been dispatched to the quake-hit region, according to a news conference held by the Qinghai provincial government.

"Our first task is to save students. Schools are always places that have many people," said Kang Zifu, an army officer in the rescue operation in Yushu.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-04/14/c_13250818.htm
 

A.V.

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Bad news
RIP to the dead , fast recovery to the injured
 

badguy2000

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2012?

one small town seems to have been destroyed by the earthquake,that is why so many people died and got injured
 

badguy2000

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last report: 400 dead and over 10000 injured.

the earthquake almost completely detroyed Jiegu Town.


Jiegu Town is not only the county-town of Yushu County, but also the capital of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture .

Jiegu Town has a population of 23,000. 79% of which are Tibetans.


here is the location of Jiegu Town on maps


the pictures of Jiegu Town before the earthquake





 

badguy2000

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Jiegu Town after the earthquake. 90% houses and constructions there broke down

however, generally speaking, the rescue and aid seem to be organized orderly and promptly





More terrible is that the earthquake compeltely destroyed the electricity-supply and airport there, which give quite difficulty to aids and help .
 

badguy2000

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This afternoon, Hui Liangyu, the vice PM of CHina and the member of CCP Politiburo arrived at Yushu, center of the earthquake stricken area.

Hui is them member of CCP politiburo, which is in charge of aid and rescue activity.

BTW, Hui is a Muslim

 

Yusuf

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RIP to the dead.

Badguy the mention of hui being a muslim is intended to show what?

And i am sure you will have bad things to say about the dead and why they died, or why the earthquake hit that area.
 

bengalraider

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Too much tectonic movement going down nowadays methinks something big may be brewing(Crosses fingers)

My condolences to the families of the deceased and injured as for the deceased i only can say that they have gone to a better place
 

amoy

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Sad... Qinghai is a birthplace of many beautiful folk songs produced by Muslims and Tibetans and many other ethnic groups, and hometown of current Dalai Lama


7.1-magnitude quake hits Qinghai
(Xinhua)Updated: 2010-04-14 15:00


The map shows the location of the epicenter of the 7.1-magnitude quake in Qinghai Province early Wednesday. [chinanews.com.cn]


YUSHU, Qinghai - About 400 people have died and 10,000 others were injured after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit northwest China's Qinghai Province early on Wednesday, local authorities said.

President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have ordered local authorities to go all out to save the disaster-stricken people.

Vice Premier Hui Liangyu has rushed to the quake-hit region.

Related readings:
5.7-magnitude earthquake jolts Tibet
Magnitude 5.0 earthquake hits Tibet
Hundreds of snakes turn up, quake fears rejected
4.1M quake jolts N China's Tangshan city
Magnitude 6.7 quake hits Taiwan



Many people are still buried under the debris of collapsed houses in the Gyegu Town near the epicenter in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu in southern Qinghai, said Huang Limin, deputy secretary-general of the prefecture government.

The strong quake and a string of aftershocks, with the biggest one being 6.3 magnitude, have toppled houses, temples, gas stations and electric poles, triggered landslides, damaged roads, cut power supplies and disrupted telecommunications. A reservoir was also cracked, where workers are trying to prevent the outflow of water.

Gyegu, also known as Jiegu, is the seat of the Yushu prefecture government. The town has a population of about 100,000, including permanent residents and migrant people.

About 700 soldiers are now struggling to clear away the rubble and rescue the buried people, a spokesman with the Qinghai Provincial Emergency Office said.

More than 5,000 additional rescuers, including soldiers and medical workers, have been dispatched to the quake-hit region, according to a news conference held by the Qinghai provincial government.

Authorities in the neighboring provinces of Gansu and Sichuan and Tibet Autonomous Region have also dispatched rescuers to Yushu.

"Our top priority is to save students. Schools are always places that have many people," said Kang Zifu, an army officer in the rescue operation in Gyegu.

The quake also killed five people and injured one another in the Shiqu County, which neighbors Yushu, in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze in Sichuan Province, local authorities said.

Lying on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Yushu has an altitude of above 4,000 meters.

The Qinghai Provincial Observatory forecast Wednesday that Yushu would see strong winds and sleet in the coming days, which would hamper rescue efforts.

CASUALTIES, DAMAGES AND LOSSES

More than 85 percent of the houses in Gyegu had collapsed, said Zhuohuaxia, a publicity official with the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu.

"The streets in Gyegu are thronged with panic, injured people, with many bleeding from the head," he said.

"Many students are buried under the debris due to building collapse at a vocational school," he said.

"A large crack appears in the wall of the Yushu Hotel, and part of a government office building also collapsed," he said.

"I can see injured people everywhere. The biggest problem now is that we lack tents, we lack medical equipment, medicine and medical workers," he said.

The epicenter is at the Rima Village in the Shanglaxiu Township, about 50 km west of Gyegu and about 800 km away from Xining, the Qinghai provincial capital.

"The epicenter is a pasturing area and sparsely-populated. I think the quake would not cause casualties as heavy as those in Jiegu," Zhuohuaxia said.

Zhu Liang, a driver at the Yushu prefecture government, said he saw half of the buildings in the Yushu Vocational School had collapsed.


"I do not know how many students have died," said Zhu, who is now in the rescue operation.

"Students just got up and were yet to go to class when the quake happened. I recovered several bodies from the debris and found they were fully dressed," he said.

"Buildings in our school were all toppled, and five pupils have died," said a teacher surnamed Chang at the Yushu Primary School, a boarding school with about 1,000 students.

"Morning sessions did not begin when the quake happened. Some pupils ran out of dorms alive, and those who had not escaped in time were buried," Chang said.

"The houses here are almost all made of wood and earthen walls, which will easily collapse when a quake happens," said Karsum Nyima, deputy director of the News Department of the Yushu TV Station.

Although Yushu is a sparsely-populated region, experts said the quake is very likely to cause "heavy" casualties.

"The strong quake has a shallow depth and the epicenter is close to the prefecture seat," said Sun Shihong, a research fellow with the China Earthquake Networks Center in Beijing.

"It is estimated there will be heavy casualties, as the quake occurred in the early morning and most of the local residents were yet to get up," he said.

"In addition, according to the building structure and damages, a large number of people will be injured," he added.

The quake led to a temporary cut of telecommunications and damaged roads to the airport. The epicenter is about 200 km away from the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

"The railway line does not go through Yushu, so it unlikely to be affected by the quake," said Lin Zhigang, of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company.

The quake was strongly felt in the neighboring Qamdo Prefecture and other regions in Tibet.

"But no casualties or major damages have been reported so far. We are investigating the losses," said Zhu Quan, director of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Seismological Bureau.

The bureau has dispatched an emergency team made up of 63 professional rescuers to Yushu, Zhu said.

"They left Qamdo in the morning and will arrive at Yushu in the afternoon," he said.

Another 17 rescuers have set off for Yushu from the Tibet regional capital of Lhasa, and they are expected to arrive at the region Thursday, he added.

The quake was also felt in parts of the neighboring Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze in Sichuan Province.

"In addition to five deaths, some houses were damaged or toppled, and some highways were disrupted," said Guo Jin, director of the Garze Bureau of Earthquake and Disaster Relief.

RESCUE

The China Earthquake Administration has also sent 60 rescuers and 30 medical workers to the quake-hit region.

The China Eastern Airlines has arranged two aircraft for transporting rescuers and relief supplies.

The Qinghai Provincial Department of Civil Affairs has allocated 5,000 tents to the region.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has allocated 5,000 tents, 50,000 cotton-padded clothes and 50,000 quilts to the region.

In addition, the Red Cross Society of China has dispatched a relief team to Yushu and allocated 100,000 yuan (14,706 U.S. dollars), 500 tents, 1,000 cotton-padded clothes and 1,000 quilts as relief supplies.

Pupils of some primary schools were among the buried, but the number was unknown, said Shi Huajie, an army police officer in the rescue operation.

"We have to mainly rely on our hands to clear away the debris as we have no large excavating machines," he said. "We have no medical equipment, either."

Wu Yong, commander of the Yushu Military Area Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said the death toll "may rise further as lots of houses collapsed."

"We are now putting up tents and transporting oxygen to prepare for treating the injured," he said.

"But roads leading to the airport have been damaged, hampering the rescue efforts," he said.

"In addition, frequent aftershocks and strong winds make the rescue operation more difficult," he added.

The quake struck the Yushu County in the Yushu prefecture at 7:49 a.m. with a depth of about 33 km. The epicenter is calculated to be 33.1 north and 96.7 east, the China Earthquake Networks Center reported.

At least 18 aftershocks have been reported so far, with the biggest being 6.3 magnitude about an hour and 36 minutes later.

"Aftershocks above 6 magnitude are still likely to happen in the coming several days," warned Liu Jie, of the China Earthquake Networks Center.

Earlier at 5:39 a.m. Wednesday, a 4.7-magnitude jolted the county with a depth of about 6 km, the center reported.

Yushu is a quake-prone region.

An 8.0-magnitude quake centered in Wenchuan County in Sichuan on May 12, 2008 left 87,000 people dead or missing.

In terms of the intensity and scope of destruction, the devastating quake is believed to have surpassed the 7.8-magnitude quake in 1976 in Tangshan, northern
 

Soham

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My condolences to the families of the fallen. I hope they recover from this soon.
 

ajtr

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Desperate battle to shore up quake dam

Chinese workers yesterday raced to prevent a damaged dam from bursting after a series of powerful earthquakes killed almost 600 people in a remote and mountainous Tibetan area of western China.

Soldiers struggled with only shovels and their hands to rescue people trapped in the wreckage of the traditional Tibetan-style mud and wood homes. The death toll was expected to rise and more than 10,000 people were injured. Several schools collapsed, killing at least 56 students with more trapped under the rubble. Bleeding survivors filled the streets of Jiegu, the town worst affected, some 20 miles from the epicentre, in Qinghai province.

The quake that hit the desperately poor county of Yushu and its population of about 280,000 was followed by another five large aftershocks within three hours, bringing down homes, schools and public buildings.

"Many of the people have been buried and our soldiers are trying to pull them out with human labour. It is very difficult to save people with our bare hands," one soldier, Shi Huajie, told the state broadcaster, China Central Television.

The quake, with a magnitude of 6.9, left a large crack in a dam in the area. Workers planned to release water from a reservoir to try to stop it from bursting and flooding the region.

Emergency officials said the dam could burst at any time, putting 100,000 people in danger. According to the US environmental group International Rivers, China's old dams have a poor safety record with more than 3,000 collapsing since the 1950s.

A larger 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit the neighbouring Sichuan province in 2008, leaving almost 90,000 people dead or missing and sparking a huge political storm over corruption and substandard building work that meant that many schools were unable to withstand the quake.

Witnesses said most of the homes in Jiegu collapsed after the first quake along with temples and petrol stations. "In a flash, the houses went down," a local journalist, Karsum Nyima, told China Central Television. "In a small park, there is a Buddhist tower and the top of the tower fell off. Everybody is out on the streets, in front of their houses, trying to find their family members."

Pupils fled from the Yushu primary school after the quake hit at 7.49am. Many escaped before all the buildings collapsed but five students at the boarding school died, a teacher told Xinhua news agency. "Morning sessions did not begin when the quake happened. Some pupils ran out of dorms alive, and those who had not escaped in time were buried," he said.

Footage on Qinghai Satellite TV showed bodies wrapped in blankets lying on the ground while rescuers pulled shards of concrete from a flattened school building.

Hospitals were stretched to the limit in Yushu, a Tibetan trading centre and gateway to central Tibet. Medical equipment was in short supply and doctors were overwhelmed by the number of casualties after 85 per cent of the housing came down in Jiegu.

"There was so much dust in the air, we couldn't see anything," said Ren Yu, general manager of Yushu Hotel in Jiegu. "There was a lot of panic. People were crying on the streets." Hotel staff helped pull 70 people from other buildings but some died on the way to hospital, Mr Ren told the Associated Press.

More than 5,000 additional rescuers, including soldiers and medical workers, were heading to the area. The provincial government said it was sending 5,000 tents and 100,000 coats and blankets to the region, situated at around 13,000 feet, where night temperatures fall below freezing. Rescuers were struggling to reach the area because of its remoteness. There are also reports that landslides have blocked roads.

The provincial capital of Qinghai, Xining, is nearly 500 miles away. The nearest airport was damaged in the quake but rescue flights started to arrive by afternoon. Many telephone lines were down and roads badly damaged. Qinghai is one of China's poorest provinces, and most of the five million people make their living from agriculture. The Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Buddhist Tibetans, sent a message of sympathy.

The province averages more than five earthquakes a year of at least a magnitude of 5.0. They normally do not cause much damage, given the sparse population, but in 1927, an earthquake of a magnitude of 8.6 killed 200,000 people.

Qinghai: A disputed territory

* Qinghai has a population of five million, most of whom make their living from agriculture. Much of the province is desert and has been largely uninhabited in the past.

* For centuries, Qinghai was part of Tibet. It became a Chinese province in 1928. More than half of the population of the province are Han Chinese. However, activists opposed to Chinese rule see it as part of an independent Tibet.

* The county of Yushu was hit hardest by the quake. It has a population of about 280,000; 97 per cent of them are Tibetan. It is one of the poorest areas in the country. China has invested heavily in Yushu in recent years, building an airport and a highway to link it with the provincial capital, Xining.
 

Pintu

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The souls departed untimely may rest in peace

Regards
 

Pintu

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AP's video link:


Regards
 
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Pintu

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdspdDB0WaMv_An4A-NvHB_DwmCwD9F3KPSG0

Low supplies slow China earthquake rescue efforts

By ANITA CHANG (AP) – 6 hours ago

JIEGU, China — Earthquake survivors shivered through a second night outdoors in a remote Tibetan corner of western China with rescuers fighting altitude sickness and dealing with a lack of supplies as the death toll rose to 760.

People with broken arms or legs cried in pain as medical teams could offer little more than injections. A doctor at the Qinghai provincial hospital, where the severely injured were being flown, said she had no idea how many were being treated because there was no time to count them all.

Stunned survivors wandered the dusty streets of Jiegu, where relief workers estimated 70 percent to 90 percent of the low-slung town of wood-and-mud housing had collapsed. Hundreds gathered to sleep in a plaza around a 50-foot (15-meter) tall statue of the mythical Tibetan King Gesar, wrapped in blankets taken from homes shattered by Wednesday morning's quakes.

"There's nothing to eat. We've just been drinking water," said Zhaxi Zuoma, a 32-year-old camped with thousands of others on a rocky field. They asked a reporter to bring them food the next day.

The official Xinhua News Agency said 760 people had died, 243 people were missing, and 11,477 were injured, 1,174 severely. The worst of the quakes measured magnitude 6.9 by the U.S. Geological Survey and 7.1 by China's earthquake administration.

Rescue vehicles snaked along the 12-hour drive from the provincial capital into the mountainous region, which still trembled with aftershocks. The altitude averages about 13,000 feet (4,000 meters), leaving some rescuers breathless and ill. Even the sniffer dogs were affected, Miao Chonggang, deputy director for emergency response under the China Earthquake Administration, told reporters in Beijing.

To reinforce official concern for a Tibetan area that saw anti-government protests two years ago, Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Yushu county Thursday evening to meet survivors. President Hu Jintao, in Brazil after visiting Washington, canceled scheduled stops in Venezuela and Peru to come home.

"In recent years the Tibetan areas have become more sensitive, and we can't rule out the possibility that the government could use the earthquake to boost its relationship with Tibetans," said Zhang Boshu, who has written about Tibet from his post with the philosophy institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

More than 10,000 soldiers, police, firefighters and medical workers were already in Yushu as of Thursday, Zou Ming, disaster relief director with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, told reporters in Beijing.

The crush of relief efforts left the town's roads at a standstill. "I'm now stuck in my car, unable to move at all. Trucks and cars are all over," said Ren Yu, general manager of Yushu Hotel, who said he had been in nearby Dangdai village helping villagers collect bodies.

Officials said they welcomed offers of help from other countries and organizations, but they indicated they didn't need foreign rescue teams and warned volunteers against going to the region because of limited access and resources there.

But people still arrived from neighboring areas to look for the dead. Just after dusk, about 20 Buddhist monks in burgundy robes and their friends sat by a pile of smoldering rubble where the Jieji temple used to be. Next to them lay the body of a middle-aged monk, covered in a blanket, with his foot sticking out. Four other bodies were in a nearby car.

"We've come to bring their bodies home," said Silang Pingcuo, who came with the others by motorcycle from neighboring Tibet.

Officials said food, clothing, quilts and tents were needed, and the limited transportation of the one main road from the provincial capital and a small, now-overworked airport were slowing the delivery of aid. Xinhua reported about 550 injured people would be flown to larger cities for treatment.

Most shops in Jiegu remained shut, and some people scavenged food and other belongings from the rubble. The Ministry of Civil Affairs said about 15,000 houses in Yushu had collapsed.

Local Buddhist monasteries handed out food, but the quake hit them hard as well. Dozens of monks were either dead or missing at the Thrangu monastery, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) outside Jiegu, after all but its main hall collapsed, said Danzeng Qiujiang, a senior cleric at the Xiuma monastery.

"Only seven or eight of the monks are left alive," he said, adding 60 or 70 remained missing.

But a larger focus in the destruction was collapsed schools, an eerie echo of the massive Sichuan quake in 2008, in which thousands of students died when their poorly built schools collapsed. But unlike in Sichuan — where schools toppled as other buildings stood — everything fell over in Yushu.

Xinhua quoted a local education official as saying 66 children and 10 teachers had died, mostly in three schools.

Rescue crews focused on recovering children buried underneath the rubble at the Yushu No. 3 Primary School, said Xu Lai, a spokesman for the Qinghai-based educational NGO Gesanghua.

"Most of the collapsed buildings were the first and third grade classrooms because they were fragile structures made from mud rather than brick and cement," Xu said.

He said local workers are going to the homes of families to ask if they are missing children.

"We just want them to get in there and save people," said Suonan, one of the hundreds camping Thursday night on the plaza. Like many Tibetans, she uses just one name.

"Even one survivor gives us hope."

Associated Press writers Gillian Wong and Chi-Chi Zhang and researchers Zhao Liang, Yu Bing and Xi Yue in Beijing contributed to this report.
 

tharikiran

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This is really sad. Pictures speak a thousand words. RIP

The picture of the father and daughter is gonna haunt me for a long time...
 

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