Sleepless night at quake-hit border town in SW China
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People put up tents in squares and gardens as rescuers screened collapsed buildings about 10 hours after a 5.8-magnitude quake hit the southwestern border town of Yingjiang in Yunnan Province.
But the night will be sleepless for local residents as aftershocks continue to hit the fragile town, along with thunderstorms.
Also, police have cordoned off tilted buildings to prevent further damages.
Xiao Lin, a member of the Yingjiang border security forces, told Xinhua during a phone interview that the town experienced a thunderstorm at about 9:20 p.m. that lasted for about six minutes.
"People were frightened by the tremor," Xiao said.
"It is cloudy now and I guess the rain will fall again tonight. It will make the rescue work more difficult," Xiao said on the phone.
Residential power in the Yingjiang county seat resumed at 11 p.m. and street lamps glowed in the chilly night.
People put up tents in squares, parks and by roadsides out of fear of more damages due to ensuing aftershocks, which has caused people to evacuate to nearby towns or villages for the night, Xiao said.
Within three minutes, at about 8:40 p.m., four aftershocks measuring up to 4.5 degrees on the Richter scale dealt another blow to the town of Yingjiang.
The quake first hit the county at 12:58 p.m., followed by three aftershocks within only 10 minutes.
Witnesses said that a four-story building buckled, crushing the lower floors that house the Tianyuan Supermarket, where casualties were severe.
Another four-story building that belongs to a local Yujin Company was also tilted by the quake, with its first floor totally destroyed.
"The quake happened shortly after I finished my lunch. The house totally collapsed within only a few seconds," recalled Miao Bin, a reporter with the Yunnan Daily, who was caught in the quake.
In Yingjiang People's Hospital, doctors were busy with surgeries while more injured people were rushed in.
The quake claimed the lives of at least 25 people and some 250 others were injured, with 134 in serious condition, said a spokesman with the county government's press office.
The earthquake also toppled the homes of 1,039 families and left 4,994 others seriously damaged, mainly in the county seat near the border with Myanmar, the spokesman said.
More than 80 percent of the homes in Lameng Village, where the epicenter was, collapsed during the quake.
By 9:30 p.m., seven aftershocks measuring up to 4.7 degrees on the Richter scale were recorded by the China Earthquake Networks Center.
Experts have not ruled out the possibility that stronger quakes might hit the region later and they could not say for sure that the first magnitude-5.8 tremor was the main quake, according to Gu Yishan, an expert with the Yunnan provincial earthquake bureau.
Prior to the quake, more than 1,200 minor tremors were recorded in the region over the last two months.
