Reuters (September 5) reported that a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck China's Sichuan
province on September 4, the strongest to hit the region since 2017, killing more than 30 people
and shaking the provincial capital of Chengdu and more distant provinces. Some roads and
homes near the epicentre were damaged by landslides, while communications were down in at
least one area, state television reported. No damage to dams and hydropower stations within
50 km (31 miles) of the epicentre was reported, although damage to the provincial grid had
affected power to about 40,000 end-users. The epicentre was at the town of Luding, the China
Earthquake Networks Centre said, in the mountains about 226 km southwest of Chengdu. The
state-owned CCTV (September 5) in its newscast stated that 'Xi Jinping gave important
instructions on the 6.8-magnitude earthquake in Luding County, Ganzi, Sichuan, and
emphasised saving lives and making every effort to rescue the affected people to minimize
casualties as the primary tasks. The Guangming Daily (September 6) published this news and
added that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had similarly issued instructions.
|
