(Updates death toll, adds colour, detail)
SHANGHAI, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Rescuers in southwestern China
tried on Saturday to reach remote communities rocked by
back-to-back earthquakes that killed at least 89 people and
damaged many thousands of buildings, state media reported said.
Shallow 5.6 magnitude quakes struck an impoverished,
mountainous part of the country with poor infrastructure and
communications on Friday and the death toll could rise as news
trickled in from cut-off areas, the Xinhua news agency said.
The quakes cut off electricity and triggered landslides that
blocked roads, hampering rescue efforts. Adding to rescuers’
difficulties was rain which forecasters said was expected for
the next three days.
State television showed crumbled walls and roads strewn
with rubble and rocks.
More than 200,000 people in Yunnan province were relocated
after the quakes leveled more than 6,600 houses and damaged many
more thousands of buildings. Up to 740,000 people had been
affected in Yunnan’s six worst-hit counties, officials said.
In neighbouring Guizhou province, more than 11,700 houses
were damaged and the lives of nearly 28,000 people were
disrupted, the state news agency and officials said.
Buildings in China’s less developed regions are often built
with little regard for construction standards, making them
susceptible to earthquakes.
Xinhua said more than 800 people were injured.
Most of the victims were from Yiliang county in Yunnan
province, near the epicentre.
Premier Wen Jiabao held an emergency meeting on his plane as
he flew to the disaster zone late on Friday. He reached Yiliang
just after midnight and spent the night visiting quake survivors
in villages and hospitals, Xinhua said.
State broadcaster CCTV also showed Wen talking to victims in
a tent settlement set up for the displaced.
Rescuers in Yunnan said they had reached most of the
worst-hit areas and the province’s civil affairs department was
quoted as putting direct economic losses at 3.5 billion yuan
($552 million).
The first quake hit at 11:19 a.m. (0319 GMT) on Friday and
the second one about 45 minutes later at a depth of about 10 km
(6 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Earthquakes with an epicentre less than 70 km (45 miles)
below the surface are considered shallow and can cause
significant damage, even at lower magnitudes.
In 2008, about 87,600 people were killed in the southwestern
province of Sichuan when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit. Many of
the victims died in the rubble of homes and schools built
without adequate steel reinforcement.
($1 = 6.3428 yuan)
(Reporting by John Ruwitch; Editing by Robert Birsel)
