BEIJING – Rescue workers cleared roads Saturday so they could search for survivors and rush aid to a remote mountainous area of southwestern China after twin earthquakes killed at least 80 people.
More than 200,000 villagers were evacuated after Friday’s quakes toppled thousands of homes and sent boulders cascading across roads in a region of small farms and mines near the border between Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, where some of the poorest Chinese live.
Additional Photos
The official Xinhua News Agency quoted local officials as saying the death toll could climb further because the quakes seriously damaged roads and communications, making it difficult to collect information.
The damage also slowed rescue efforts.
“Roads are blocked and rescuers have to climb mountains to reach hard-hit villages,” Xinhua quoted Li Fuchun, head of Luozehe township in hardest-hit Yiliang County, as saying.
State television said Saturday that workers had succeeded in clearing a road into the worst-hit area that had been blocked by fallen boulders.
Rescue work was also likely to be hampered by rain forecast over the next three days. There was, however, some uplifting news: State television reported that four babies had been born in temporary hospitals set up after the quakes.
The first magnitude-5.6 quake struck just before 11:30 a.m. Friday and was followed by an equally strong quake shortly after noon, then dozens of aftershocks. Though of moderate strength, the quakes were shallow, which often causes more damage than deeper ones.
Zhang Junwei, a spokesman for the Yunnan Seismological Bureau, said by telephone Saturday that 80 people had died and 821 had been injured.
All but one of the deaths occurred in Yiliang County, according to the Yunnan provincial government’s official website. Yiliang’s high population density, flimsy building construction and landslide-prone hillsides were blamed for the relatively high death toll.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.