7.1 Quake in China Kills 400
An earthquake that hit China on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, left at least 400 dead and 8,000 injured, according to a Chinese television network. The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.1, caused great damage to a dominantly Tibetan county in the western province of Qinghai.
The quake that shook an area 20 miles from the county seat of Yushu tore apart an elementary school, a portion of a Buddhist tower in a public park, the town’s main hospital and numerous houses, Chinese officials said to the media.
As stated by Zhuo Huaxia, a local Tibetan official, many were buried in the collapsed houses and several others were still injured and treated in the local medical centers.
The town of Yushu is located approximately 500 miles southwest of Xining, Qinghai’s capital. This town is home to about 100,000 people, many of whom are herdsmen. A number of houses that were affected by the earthquake were made of logs and mud.
“The death toll may rise as lots of houses collapsed,” said an army official. The official further added that the roads that lead to the airport has been slowing down rescue efforts because they were damaged.
According to the US Geological Survey, the quake was measured at magnitude 6.9. Additionally, there were at least six aftershocks, the strongest of which was measured at a magnitude of 6.2.