The city of Yaan has been affected by an earthquake last Saturday with a magnitude of 7.0. The earthquake claimed life of close to 190 people (stand on Sunday night) while over 11,000 people were reported to suffer injuries. Trains and flights however were back to normal by Saturday afternoon.
CHENGDU- Sichuan continues to be cursed by nature with a new deadly earthquake shaking the province on Saturday. The epicenter of the catastrophe was located in Ya’an, a city of 1.5 million people located 140 km from Chengdu, the regional capital. With a depth of 13 km, the earthquake was meanwhile felt in Chengdu but also in other areas in Sichuan such as Chongqing Municipality or the provinces of Guizhou, Gansu, Shaanxi and Yunnan. A total of 69 counties in the Province of Sichuan felt the earthquake.
The earthquake claimed life to 186 people while 21 people are reported missing, and 11,393 others have been injured, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).
Infrastructure has been affected by the catastrophe. On Sunday morning, China Ministry of Civil Affairs the indicated that more than 1.5 million people in southwest China have been affected by Saturday’s earthquake.
“A large number of buildings collapsed and were damaged in the quake-hit area. The authorities are still checking the details since communication and transport are not fully available,” the statement of the Ministry said. About 400 buildings were damaged and eight collapsed in Chongqing while some 900 buildings were also damaged in Yunnan, according to the Ministry.
Trains were suspended for a few hours but resumed their activity on Saturday afternoon. At Chengdu International Airport, most flights were delayed by one to two hours on average due to safety inspections on the airport’s facilities and runways. “The airport was reopened an hour later after closing at 8:00 am,” the airport authority said.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China launched an emergency response to ask carriers and airports around the country to ensure the flights with rescuers and disaster relief supplies to arrive at the earthquake-hit region on time.
More than 2,300 firemen have been engaged in rescue work, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
In 2008, the Province experienced one of the most traumatic earthquake to date. The Great Sichuan Earthquake reached by then a magnitude of 8.0. It consequently killed 69,195 people, with 18,392 missing.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
