6.8 magnitude earthquake hits China’s Sichuan province, 7 dead

International

oi-Deepika S

Beijing,
Sep
05:
A
magnitude
6.8
earthquake
hit
China’s
Sichuan
on
Monday
killing
at
least
seven
people
and
shaking
the
provincial
capital
of
Chengdu
and
other
provinces.
The
region
is
already
reeling
under
a
rising
number
of
COVID-19
cases
and
an
unprecedented
drought.

The
epicentre
of
the
quake,
which
occurred
at
12:25
pm
local
time,
was
monitored
at
29.59
degrees
north
latitude
and
102.08
degrees
east
longitude
at
a
depth
of
16
km,
China
Earthquake
Networks
Centre
was
quoted
as
saying
by
the
state-run
Xinhua
news
agency.

The
epicentre
is
39
km
away
from
the
county
seat
of
Luding
and
there
are
several
villages
within
the
5-km
range
around
the
epicentre.

The
tremor
was
felt
in
Chengdu,
the
capital
of
Sichuan,
which
is
226
km
away
from
the
epicentre.

Malaysia:
Earthquake
of
magnitude
6.2
hits
Kuala
Lumpur

Photos
and
videos
posted
on
Chinese
social
media
showed
buildings
shaking
in
Chengdu.
Details
of
the
damage
are
awaited.
Sichuan
province
is
located
adjacent
to
Tibet.

The
Tibetan
plateau
is
known
to
be
prone
to
heavy
earthquakes
as
it
sits
right
over
the
place
where
the
tectonic
Eurasian
and
Indian
plates
meet,
often
colliding
with
huge
force.

More
than
69,000
people
were
killed
when
an
8.2
quake
struck
the
province
in
2008
and
a
magnitude
7
quake
claimed
200
lives
in
2013.

Monday’s
quake
struck
as
the
province
is
grappling
with
the
rising
number
of
COVID-19
cases.
Chengdu
was
under
a
snap
lockdown
due
to
a
growing
number
of
cases.

Residents
were
told
to
stay
home,
with
one
person
per
household
allowed
out
each
day
to
buy
necessities.

Daily
nucleic
acid
tests
were
also
mandated
until
Wednesday,
the
Hong
Kong-based
South
China
Morning
Post
reported.

More
than
1,000
cases
have
been
reported
since
mid-August
in
Chengdu
alone,
a
southwestern
transport
hub
of
21
million
people.

7.1
earthquake
hits
north
Philippines

Sichuan
reported
105
new
symptomatic
cases
on
Monday,
and
another
80
asymptomatic
infections.

The
province
is
also
reeling
under
unprecedented
drought
and
heatwaves
persisted
over
vast
swathes
of
China,
with
farmlands
left
dry
after
a
month
of
no
rainfall
and
little
to
no
irrigation
equipment
available
to
farmers.