Moderately strong quake hits eastern
Indonesia
Published on Sep 08, 2012
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A moderately strong earthquake has hit eastern Indonesia, causing panic
among residents, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. No tsunami warning was
issued.
The United States Geological Survey says the 6.0-magnitude quake struck on Saturday evening off the
eastern province of Papua. It says it was fairly shallow, just 20km beneath the sea, which often causes
more shaking than deeper quakes.
Witnesses said shocked residents and hotel guests in Nabire town ran outside screaming.
Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency said there was no danger of a tsunami.
Indonesia has frequent earthquakes because of its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of
volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
Rescuers focus on remote areas as China
quake toll at 80
Published on Sep 08, 2012
A damaged vehicle is parked outside an apartment block in Yiliang on Sept 7, 2012 after two quakes hit the border of south-western
Yunnan and Guizhou provinces an hour apart around the middle of the day followed by a string of aftershocks. -- PHOTO: AFP
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SHANGHAI (REUTERS) - Rescuers in south-western China tried on Saturday to
reach remote communities rocked by back-to-back earthquakes that killed at least 80 people and
damaged tens of thousands of buildings, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Friday's shallow 5.6 magnitude quakes struck an impoverished, mountainous part of the country with poor
infrastructure and telecommunications and the death toll could rise as news trickles out of cut-off areas, it
said.
Most of the victims were from Yiliang county in Yunnan province, near the epicentre.
Footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed boulder-covered roadways, abandoned cars and black
smoke billowing from buildings.
President Hu Jintao, visiting the Russian city of Vladivostok for an Asia-Pacific summit, called for efforts
to help the victims and Premier Wen Jiabao headed to the quake zone, Xinhua reported.
Rescuers in Yunnan said late on Friday they had reached 90 per cent of the six quake-hit counties under
the jurisdiction of Zhaotong city, where 740,000 people had been affected by the quakes, it said.
Direct economic losses tallied 3.5 billion yuan (S$687.1 million), Yunnan's civil affairs department was
quoted as saying.
Officials in neighbouring Guizhou said two people were injured and the lives of nearly 28,000 people were
disrupted in Weining county, on the Yunnan border.
Buildings in China's less developed regions are often built with little regard for construction standards,
making them susceptible to earthquakes.
The first one at 11.19 am (11.19am Singapore time) on Friday and the second one about 45mins later at a
depth of about 10km, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Earthquakes with an epicentre less than 70km below the surface are considered shallow and can cause
significant damage, even at lower magnitudes.
In 2008, about 87,600 people were killed in the south-western province of Sichuan when a 7.8 magnitude
earthquake hit. Many of the victims died in the rubble of homes and schools built without adequate steel
reinforcement.
Chinese premier visits earthquake disaster
zone
Published on Sep 08, 2012
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, center, talks to earthquake victims in
Yiliang County of Zhaotong, southwest China's Yunnan Province, early Saturday on Sept 8, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
ZHAOTONG (AFP) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday visited earthquake victims in south-west
China after twin tremors left at least 80 people dead and hundreds more injured, state media reported.
Television pictures showed Mr Wen, who arrived late on Friday, in a tent with survivors in the remote and
mountainous area, where crippled infrastructure was complicating efforts to assess the full scale of the
disaster.
Mr Wen, who is a popular figure in China and is often shown lending his support in disaster zones, made a
speech at an emergency centre surrounded by rescuers, a day after twin 5.6-magnitude quakes struck the
poorly developed region.
A spokesman with the provincial civil affairs department meanwhile warned the toll could climb further
because impassable roads and downed communications were making it difficult to collect information.
A total of 731 people were injured when the tremors struck on the border of Yunnan and Guizhou
provinces, toppling houses and sending panicked crowds onto the streets.
The area is prone to earthquakes. In May 2008, an 8.0-magnitude tremor rocked Sichuan and parts of
neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, killing tens of thousands and flattening swathes of the
province.
The Global Times newspaper said the latest tremor again highlighted China's continued vulnerability to
natural disasters, despite decades of rapidly improving wealth and living standards in much of the country.
"A quake as strong as Friday's... could have caused fewer or even no casualties in a more developed
region," it said.
"People who have illusions about China's national strength have to wake up to the fact that many people
still live in houses with similar conditions," added the editorial.
Residents described how people ran out of buildings screaming as the two shallow quakes hit an hour apart
around the middle of the day.
Television footage showed roads strewn with fallen bricks and rocks in Yunnan province's Yiliang county,
which appeared to be worst hit.
Authorities were sending thousands of tents, quilts and coats, and Premier Wen Jiabao was also heading to
the area, Xinhua said.
Footage on state television network CCTV showed hundreds of people crowded into a sports field in
Yiliang.
People took cover outside after the first quake and did not return indoors, said a man surnamed Xia
reached by phone. "Lots of people are outside because they fear aftershocks," he said.
"I was walking on the street when I suddenly felt the ground shaking beneath me," posted one witness on
Sina Weibo, a microblog similar to Twitter.
"People started rushing outside screaming, it still scares me to think of it now." The US Geological Survey
said the first quake struck at 11.20am (12.20pm, Singapore time) at a depth of around 10km, with the
second quake around an hour later. They were followed by several aftershocks.
The earthquakes cut off electricity and triggered landslides, blocking roads, Xinhua said.
Mr Li Fuchun, the head Luozehe township, identified as the epicentre, told Xinhua: "Roads are blocked
and rescuers have to climb mountains to reach hard-hit villagers."
Peng Zhuwen, a worker at a zinc mine in Luozehe, added: "It is scary. My brother was killed by falling
rocks. The aftershocks have struck again and again. We are so scared."
Yunnan's civil affairs department said that 6,650 houses had been destroyed and 100,000 people evacuated.
There were also fears of disease after thousands of cattle were killed when sheds caved in.
Rocks as big as four metres across crashed into mountain roads, crushing houses and cars, Xinhua said.
Disasters in China have in the past been the trigger for popular anger.
After the Sichuan quake, Mr Wen was initially criticised for reading out a dry, official statement calling for
courage in the face of disaster.
But within hours, he was on his way to the worst hit areas and once there showed how he can empathise
with China's least fortunate citizens in a series of intimate meetings.
Anger later turned to the corruption blamed for corner cutting in construction projects that was blamed for
the collapse of shoddy buildings, especially schools, and for the death toll being as high as it was.
The Global Times said that after the latest quake, authorities should emphasise safety in future
developments.
"To take the time and invest money in the prevention of natural disasters, which are unpredictable and are
unlikely to occur, does not seem like a persuasive proposal to many in China," it concluded.