7.1-magnitude earthquake rattles part of western China, injuring 6 people and collapsing 47 homes
By The Associated Press on January 22, 2024.
BEIJING (AP) – Authorities in China’s far western Xinjiang region say six people were injured and more than 120 houses were damaged or destroyed in Tuesday’s earthquake. The government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region posted on its official Weibo account that two were seriously injured and four had minor injuries. In addition, 47 houses collapsed, 78 houses were damaged and some agricultural buildings collapsed. The magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Uchturpan county, called Wushi county in Mandarin, in Aksu prefecture shortly after 2 a.m., the China Earthquake Networks Center said. Around 200 rescuers were dispatched to the epicenter, according to state broadcaster CCTV. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. BEIJING (AP) – A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck a sparsely populated part of China’s western Xinjiang region early Tuesday, knocking out power and destroying at least two homes, local authorities and state media reported. No fatalities have been reported. The quake rocked Uchturpan county, called Wushi county in Mandarin, in Aksu prefecture shortly after 2 a.m., the China Earthquake Networks Center said. The mountainous county had around 233,000 people in 2022, according to Xinjiang authorities. Two houses collapsed, Aksu authorities said, and around 200 rescuers were dispatched to the epicenter, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The quake downed power lines but electricity was quickly restored to the region, Aksu authorities reported. Urumqi Railroad Bureau resumed services after 7 a.m. after safety checks confirmed no problems on the train lines. The suspension had affected 23 trains, the bureau serving the Xinjiang capital said on its official Weibo account. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured 7.0 magnitude and occurred in the seismically active Tian Shan mountain range. It said the area’s largest quake in the past century was 7.1 magnitude and occurred in 1978 about 200 kilometers (124 miles) to the north of one early Tuesday. State broadcaster CCTV said 14 aftershocks have been measured, two of them above 5 magnitude. The rural area is populated mostly by Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnicity that is predominantly Muslim and has been the target of a state campaign of forced assimilation and mass detention. Uchturpan county at the quake’s epicenter is recording temperatures well below freezing, with lows down to negative 18 degrees C (just below zero F) forecast by the China Meteorological Administration this week. Parts of northern and central China have shivered under frigid cold snaps this winter, with authorities closing schools and highways several times due to snowstorms. In Yunnan province in China’s southwest, rescue workers were continuing to try to find victims buried by a landslide Monday in the village of Liangshui. Eleven bodies have been recovered, and two survivors were rescued after the landslide buried 47 people in 18 homes in freezing cold and falling snow. The tremors from Tuesday’s earthquake were felt hundreds of kilometers (miles) away. Ma Shengyi, a 30-year-old pet shop owner living in Tacheng, 600 kilometers (373 miles) from the epicenter, said her dogs started barking before she felt her apartment building shudder. The quake was so strong her neighbors ran downstairs. Ma rushed to her bathroom and started to cry. “There’s no point in running away if it’s a big earthquake,” Ma said. “I was scared to death.” Chandeliers swung, buildings were evacuated and a media office building near the epicenter shook for a full minute, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. A video posted by a Chinese internet user on Weibo showed residents standing outside on the streets bundled in winter jackets, and a photo posted by CCTV showed a cracked wall with chunks fallen off. Tremors were felt across the Xinjiang region and in the neighboring countries Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In the Kazakh capital of Almaty, people left their homes, the Russian news agency Tass reported. Videos posted on the Telegram messaging platform showed people in Almaty running down the stairs of apartment blocks and standing outside in the street after they felt strong tremors. Some people appeared to have left their homes quickly and were pictured standing outside in freezing temperatures in shorts. Earthquakes are common in western China, including in Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, as well as the Xinjiang region and Tibet. An earthquake that struck Gansu in December killed 151 people and was China’s deadliest earthquake in nine years. ___ Follow AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific 23-22
