Rescue underway after earthquake hits China's Sichuan

CHENGDU : Rescue operations are being carried out in an orderly manner after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake rattled Lushan County in Ya'an, Sichuan, at 5 p.m. Wednesday Beijing Time, reported Xinhua, quoting the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

The earthquake was followed by a 4.5-magnitude quake at 5:03 p.m. in Baoxing County, also in Ya'an.

Four people had been confirmed dead and 14 others injured as of 7:40 p.m. Wednesday, all reported in Baoxing County, according to the city's earthquake relief headquarters.

"The cabinets toppled over and we were terrified," said Xu Shuhua, a 70-year-old resident in Baoxing. The family of four lived in a high-rise apartment and the building shook heavily during the earthquake. After running out of the building, they were guided to a temporary shelter in the county stadium, about a 10 minute-walk away.

About 300 people had been relocated to the stadium by midnight Wednesday. Volunteers and rescue workers were handing out life support and epidemic prevention necessities to the victims.

"We have water, food and quilts, so we won't go cold and hungry at night," said Xu.

Several such shelters have been established in Baoshan and Lushan, with priority given to the elderly, women, children and students.

Ya'an has activated the second-highest level of emergency response for the earthquake and is conducting damage assessments.

More than 4,500 people from emergency rescue, the armed police, the fire department, the medical sector and other departments were dispatched to the earthquake-hit areas to search for and rescue the injured, repair roads and relocate affected residents.

The provincial earthquake administration said that the 6.1-magnitude earthquake of Lushan was an aftershock of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit the county in 2013.

-- BERNAMA