Earthquake Kills Hundreds and Injures Thousands in Southwest China

By Annie Hauser Published: Aug 3,2014, 10:25PM,EDT weather.com

Damage from Deadly Quake

An earthquake hit southwest China's Yunnan Province Sunday afternoon local time, killing at least 381 people and injuring more than 1,880, according to China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, China's state news agency Xinhua reported.
About 12,000 homes collapsed in Ludian, a densely populated county located about 366 kilometers (277 miles) northeast of Yunnan's capital, Kunming, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported. Rescuers were still digging through shattered homes looking for survivors on Monday local time.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-6.1 quake hit Yunnan province at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). Its epicenter was in Longtoushan township, 23 kilometers (14 miles) southwest of the city of Zhaotong, the Ludian county seat. China's Earthquake Networks Center measured the quake to be 6.5-magnitude.

Earthquake Location

 Ma Liya, a local resident, told Xinhua that the streets were like "battlefield after bombardment." She added that her neighbor's house, a new two-story building, had toppled."It's so terrible. The aftermath is much much worse than what happened after the quake two years ago. I have never felt so strong tremors before. What I can see are all ruins," she said.
Xinhua and state broadcaster CCTV said 381 people were killed, citing rescuers. CCTV said 1,891 were injured, three were missing and 29,400 had been evacuated. The death toll was expected to rise, once rescuers reached remote communities to assess casualties.
Relief efforts were underway, with more than 2,500 troops dispatched to the disaster region, Xinhua said. The Red Cross Society of China allocated quilts, jackets and tents for those made homeless by the quake, while Red Cross branches in Hong Kong, Macau and neighboring Sichuan province also sent relief supplies.
During the quake, residents rushed out of buildings to the streets. Electricity was lost. Telecommunication services were affected, making it was hard to reach people in the area, another resident told the state news agencies.
Photos on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media site, showed rescuers searching through flattened buildings and people injured amid toppled bricks.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered "his condolences to the Chinese Government and the families of those killed," according to a statement from his office. The statement said the U.N. is ready to "lend its assistance to efforts to respond to humanitarian needs" and "to mobilize any international support needed."
The White House also offered its condolences.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those that lost their lives," said National Security Council deputy spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. "The United States stands ready to assist."
The mountainous region where the quake occurred is largely agricultural, with farming and mining the top industries, and is prone to earthquakes.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said the quake was the strongest to hit Yunnan in 14 years. It reported that the quake loosened rocks that blocked a road near the city of Zhaotong and broadcast an image of a car apparently damaged by debris from the temblor.
In 1970, a magnitude-7.7 earthquake in Yunnan killed at least 15,000 people, and a magnitude-7.1 quake in the province killed more than 1,400 in 1974. In September 2012, 81 people died and 821 were injured in a series of quakes in the Yunnan region.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
MORE: Photos of the Earthquake

1 / 4

Residents look for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed house after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit the area in Ludian county in Zhaotong, southwest China's Yunnan province on August 3, 2014. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)