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China quake kills 3,000-5,000 in one county
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC News Services
updated 41 minutes ago
BEIJING, China - A powerful earthquake in southwest China has killed up to 5,000 people and left as many as 10,000 injured, state media said, as hundreds of children remained trapped in at least eight collapsed schools.
The temblor was felt as far away as Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand.
An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people were killed in Beichuan county of mountainous Sichuan province alone after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region during the early afternoon on Monday, Xinhua news agency said, citing the local government.
Beichuan’s population is 161,000, meaning about one in 10 residents were killed or injured in the quake. The county is a part of Mianyang city, and about 100 miles from the provincial capital, Chengdu.
The death toll was expected to rise sharply as authorities and rescue teams made contact with the worst-hit areas of Sichuan, where phone lines have been cut off since the quake struck.
It is now night in the affected area, hampering rescue efforts.
The quake had toppled at least eight schools and left hundreds of students and teachers trapped, state media said. There also were reports of several factories collapsing in the quake.
About 900 teenagers were buried in the rubble of a collapsed three-story school building in the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan.
Local villagers had already helped dozens of students out of the ruins and five cranes were excavating at the site as anxious parents looked on, Xinhua said. |
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發表於 2008-5-12 06:46
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