Death toll of Sichuan earthquake reaches 74 ; all affected people in disaster areas relocated

BEIJING

The death toll reached 74 as of 9 pm on Tuesday after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Luding county in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Monday, leaving at least 259 injured and 26 missing. All the affected people in the disaster area have already been relocated so far.

Of the people killed, 40 are from the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and 34 are from Ya’an city, according to the authorities of these two places.

As of 11:30 am on Wednesday, a total of 6,990 rescue personnel, 5,979 equipment, 943 vehicles, 155 large machinery, 41 boats, five generator cars, four helicopters, ten unmanned aerial vehicles and 109 emergency oil engines have been dispatched and used in the rescue work after the earthquake, said Garze authorities.

In the quake-hit areas of Garze, 41 centralized resettlement sites have been set up, and 13,232 people have been settled, including more than 9,000 in Hailuogou area and 3,900 people in Detuo town.

The shortest way to the epicenter of Moxi township was cleared on Tuesday afternoon after the roads to the town collapsed and blocked with rocks and trees in Monday’s earthquake.

Meanwhile, rescue teams started evacuating people that are trapped in Detuo township on Wednesday morning with rescue boats and helicopters.

In the evening on Tuesday, local officials in Luding and officers and soldiers of the Sichuan-Xizang military station department of the PLA Xizang Military Command urgently built a simple crossing bridge over the Wandong River in Detuo Town. After overnight construction, another route was cleared, the Global Times learned from the command on Wednesday.

The soldiers are now marching to the disaster area to deliver relief supplies to and evacuate trapped residents.

The Xizang Military Command also sent cooking trucks to the epicenter, providing hot food to more than 2,000 people.

As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, a total of 13 aftershocks of magnitude 3.0 or above have been recorded, including 11 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 to 3.9 and two quakes of magnitude 4.0 to 4.9, with the largest aftershocks of magnitude 4.5.

Power has been restored to more than 22,000 households after emergency repair to substations in the disaster areas, including two 110 kilovolt substations and two 35 kilovolt substations.

The railway affected by the earthquake has also resumed normal operation, according to railway authorities.