The earthquake scene of Jiegu Town, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai Province, which was shot by mobile phone on April 14th. At 7: 49 in the morning, an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 occurred in Yushu County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province (33.1 degrees north latitude and 96.7 degrees east longitude). (photo by reporter Zhang Hongshuan)
China Daily News: A strong earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck Yushu County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai, China at 7: 49 on the 14th. As of 14: 00 Beijing time, the earthquake has caused heavy casualties and property losses. Officials say that with the expansion and deepening of disaster statistics, the casualty loss data may rise.
The epicenter of the earthquake is located in Ri ma village, Shanglaxiu Township, Yushu County, about 30 kilometers away from Jiegu Town, where Yushu Prefecture is located. According to the data released by the Qinghai Provincial Earthquake Relief Headquarters at 13: 00, the number of people killed in the earthquake has reached nearly 300, and more than 8,000 people have been injured.
Communication, transportation and water and electricity supply in the epicenter and nearby areas were largely interrupted. There is a crack in a reservoir dam about 15 kilometers away from Yushu County, and the relevant staff are taking emergency measures such as releasing water.
Witnesses told Xinhua News Agency by mobile phone that after the earthquake, the streets of Jiegu Town, the capital of Yushu Prefecture, were full of bloody people, and most of the houses had collapsed, and many people were buried under the rubble. Most of the houses that had not collapsed also had cracks and kept shaking in the aftershocks, and there were many fire accidents in the earthquake zone.
Yushu Prefecture officials told Xinhua that the earthquake caused the office building of the State Party Committee to partially collapse, the Yushu Hotel was shattered, the school building of the state vocational school collapsed and some students were buried. There is a shortage of food, medicine and water in the earthquake zone. The official said that if tents were not fully put in place that night, a large number of people would sleep on the streets.
Three hours after the earthquake, some people in Yushu County have been evacuated to the surrounding mountains. "The surrounding mountains are full of people." A staff member of Yushu Meteorological Bureau said that when the earthquake happened, the local temperature was MINUS 1.2 degrees Celsius, and people ran out wearing cotton-padded jackets.
China Municipal Government urgently launched an emergency response mechanism to carry out earthquake relief. At 13: 23, China Seismological Bureau upgraded the earthquake emergency response level from the initial level 2 to level 1. The National Disaster Reduction Committee and the Ministry of Civil Affairs also upgraded the emergency response to disaster relief to the first level.
After the earthquake, the Qinghai Armed Police Corps dispatched more than 3,700 officers and men to the disaster area in Xining and Golmud. The captain of Qinghai Armed Police Corps said that he would do his best to reach Yushu earthquake area before 21: 00.
The Lanzhou Military Region urgently dispatched a number of rescue forces to quickly maneuver to the disaster area, and it is expected that they will all arrive in the disaster area before the evening to carry out rescue.
The air force urgently deployed three planes to put into earthquake relief. The first one took off at 13: 13, and the second one took off at 13: 21, carrying 111 people from China National Rescue Team and some rescue equipment; The third plane took off at 13: 27, airlifting 100 personnel and equipment of the geological and mineral survey team to Yushu Airport in Qinghai.
It is expected that a large number of officers and men of the People’s Liberation Army and the Armed Police will go to the disaster area to carry out disaster relief.
The Disaster Relief Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China, the Seismological Bureau of China, and the Red Cross Society have all organized special working groups to rush to the disaster areas for emergency rescue. A 30-member medical team organized by China International Rescue Team set off for Yushu with mobile hospitals and other equipment and facilities.
Qinghai, Xizang, Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Ningxia and other neighboring provinces and regions have organized rescue teams and experts to rush to Yushu disaster area. China Eastern Airlines has deployed two planes to carry out rescue workers and materials transportation tasks.
Local rescuers said that a strong wind of magnitude 6 to 7 began to blow in the disaster area at noon, which caused great difficulties in the rescue work.
Earthquake experts said that because the focal point is only 30 kilometers away from Yushu County, most people are still at home when the earthquake occurs, and the destructive power and casualties may be relatively large. However, because Yushu is economically underdeveloped and located in a remote area, most houses are civil structures, so compared with earthquakes of the same level, the number of casualties will be relatively small.
"The Yushu earthquake is not an accidental phenomenon." Sun Shizhen, from China Seismological Network Center Research Institute, said that Yushu is located in the middle of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau block, and the geological activity of this block is relatively strong. Earthquakes above moderate level have occurred many times in history.
The strong earthquake has also spread to parts of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, Changdu and Naqudong counties in Xizang, which are adjacent to Qinghai, causing some houses to crack or collapse seriously. So far, no casualties have been reported.
It is also known that the epicenter is about 200 kilometers away from the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, and it is not expected to have any major impact.
According to the National Seismological Network, the possibility of strong earthquakes and aftershocks will not be ruled out in the next few days.
According to Sun Shizhen’s analysis, in the nine months from July 15th, 2009 to now, there have been 24 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above in the world, with an average of 2.6 times per month. The average earthquake of magnitude 7.7 or above has been twice a year for a hundred years, but it has occurred six times in the last nine months. "This shows that the global seismic activity has entered a period of high activity".
Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province is located at the source of the Three Rivers in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in southwest Qinghai Province, with an average elevation of more than 4,200 meters. The total land area is 267,000 square kilometers, with a total population of 283,100, and the Tibetan population accounts for more than 95% of the total population. The main mode of transportation into Yushu Prefecture is highway.
Source: Xinhuanet (Reporter Li Yunlu, Lv Xueli, Ma Yong) Editor: Ningbo Feng Yuan
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