Rescue teams race to help after Yunnan earthquake

Rescue teams and necessary supplies were rushed to the epicenter of Zhaotong in Yunnan province to support residents after a magnitude-5 earthquake jolted the city late on Monday, leaving four dead and 28 injured by 6 pm on Tuesday, the province's emergency authorities said.

Facilities damaged in the earthquake have been repaired to reduce the effect on residents. Five of the 10 communication base stations that were out of service after the earthquake have been repaired and restored as of 2 pm on Tuesday, according to the Department of Emergency Management of Yunnan province.

In addition, the Zhaotong city government has allocated emergency materials, including 750 relief tents, 2,500 quilts and 25 metric tons of rice to the epicenter, Xiaohe town of Qiaojia county. The earthquake relief work is being carried out in an orderly manner, the department said.

A batch of experts and rescue teams from the central and provincial governments have been dispatched to supervise and lead the rescue and relief work, including conducting thorough examinations of the damaged houses.

The quake struck at 9:47 pm on Monday at a depth of 8 kilometers, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

"I have never felt any earthquake fiercer than this one. People couldn't stand steadily on the ground," said Liu Xiangfu, a 67-year-old villager in Xiaohe.

Because of the hot weather, many residents were still out enjoying the cool temperature on Monday evening when the quake struck.

"It was really horrible to see the buildings shaking fiercely," he said.

As of 7 am on Tuesday, more than 750 rescue workers from local emergency response departments have been mobilized to help with mass relocation, rescue and disaster verification.

"The earthquake caused the collapse of the road at Baiyanjiao, blocking traffic, but the road maintenance group repaired it within one hour," Liu said, giving thumbs up to departments of all levels for responding positively to the disaster.

The earthquake caused some houses to crack or collapse, blocked traffic and interrupted power and communication in Xiaohe and Xindian towns of Qiaojia.

On Tuesday, Su Jianhong, vice-mayor of Zhaotong, arranged rescue teams and livelihood support groups to aid relief work in 14 villages or communities in Xiaohe.

Yunnan, one of the provinces where earthquakes occur most frequently in China, also received assistance from technology.

An earthquake warning network jointly established by Chengdu-based Institute of Care-Life and local emergency management departments was reported to have successfully sent warnings 69 seconds ahead of time to Kunming and 10 seconds early to Zhaotong.

It displayed a pop-up on TV screens to warn that the seismic wave would arrive soon.

"The earthquake warning network has covered Yunnan province since 2014. It helps to better meet the public's demand for earthquake warnings after having launched the earthquake warning function on TVs and mobile phones," Wang Tun, head of the ICL, told chinanews.com.