SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 29 March 2024, Friday |

Earthquake in China’s Sichuan kills 46, shakes provincial capital

On Monday, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake slammed China’s Sichuan province, the biggest to hit the region since 2017, killing 46 people and rattling Chengdu and other distant regions.

Landslides damaged several roads and residences around the epicenter, and communications were disrupted in at least one location, according to state media.

There was no damage to dams or hydroelectric units within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of the epicenter, but the provincial grid was damaged, affecting around 40,000 end-users.

The epicenter was at the town of Luding, the China Earthquake Networks Centre said, in the mountains about 226 km southwest of Chengdu.

Earthquakes are common in the southwestern province of Sichuan, especially in its mountains in the west, a tectonically active area along the eastern boundary of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

Laura Luo, who lives in Chengdu, a city of about 21 million people, was on her way to her apartment block when she saw people rushing out of their high-rise homes in panic after getting earthquake warnings on their phones.

    Source:
  • Reuters