Advertisement

At least 46 dead in China earthquake

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Sichuan province of southwestern China has claimed at least 46 lives.

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Sichuan province of southwestern China has claimed at least 46 lives. Photo: AAP

At least 46 people have been reported killed and 16 missing in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook China’s southwestern province of Sichuan.

The quake on Monday triggered landslides and shook buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu, whose 21 million residents are already under a COVID-19 lockdown.

The quake struck a mountainous area in Luding county shortly after midday, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.

Sichuan, which sits on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau where tectonic plates meet, is regularly hit by earthquakes. Two quakes in June killed at least four people.

Power was knocked out and buildings damaged in the historic town of Moxi in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Garze, where 29 people were killed. Tents had been erected for more than 50,000 people being moved from homes rendered unsafe by the quake, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.

State broadcaster CCTV showed rescue crews pulling a woman who appeared uninjured from a collapsed home in Moxi, where many of the buildings are constructed from a mix of wood and brick.

About 150 people were reported with varying degrees of injuries.

Earlier, authorities had reported seven deaths in Luding county and 14 more in neighbouring Shimian county to the south. Three of the dead were workers at the Hailuogou Scenic Area, a glacier and forest nature reserve.

Along with the deaths, authorities reported stones and soil falling from mountainsides, causing damage to homes and power interruptions, CCTV said. One landslide blocked a rural highway, leaving it strewn with rocks, the Ministry of Emergency Management said.

Buildings shook in Chengdu, 200 kilometres away from the epicentre.

The earthquake and lockdown follow a heat wave and drought that led to water shortages and power cuts due to Sichuan’s reliance on hydropower. That comes on top of the latest major lockdown under China’s strict “zero-COVID” policy.

The US Geological Survey recorded a magnitude of 6.6 for Monday’s quake at a relatively shallow depth of 10km. Preliminary measurements by different agencies often differ slightly.

China’s deadliest earthquake in recent years was a 7.9 magnitude quake in 2008 that killed nearly 90,000 people in Sichuan. The tremor devastated towns, schools and rural communities outside Chengdu, leading to a years-long effort to rebuild with more resistant materials.

Advertisement
Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter.
Copyright © 2025 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.