Natural Hazards and Disasters: Earthquake kills 589 in China

589 people have been killed and over 2833 have been injured in China after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake with a depth of 10 km (6.1 miles) struck 11km (7miles) northwest of Wenping in Yunnan Province on 3 August 2014. The earthquake was also felt in Kunming, Chongqing, Leshan and Chengdu. Numerous aftershocks have followed the earthquake.

According to reports 9 people are still missing, more than 1 million people have been affected, 229,700 have been left homeless and 230,000 have been evacuated from the affected areas due to severe structural damage to buildings and infrastructure. Fatalities have occurred in Ludian, Qiaojia, Huize and Zhaotong. Further remote villages devastated by the earthquake have just been reached; therefore the death toll is likely to increase.

The earthquake has caused devastation. More than 80,000 houses have collapsed and a further 124,000 have suffered severe damage. According to Earthquake-Report; 25,500 houses have collapsed in Yunnan, 39,200 have been severely damaged and a further 151,200 houses have also suffered damage. In Sichuan 23 houses have collapsed and a further 2579 have been damaged. In Guizhou 12 houses have collapsed and 2154 have been damaged. These figures are likely to rise since some remote villages have not been reached or are just being reached.

The poor infrastructure is making response to the disaster difficult. Several roads and bridges have been damaged during the earthquake. Access to remote areas is limited and destruction to the existing communication system has made it worse. Roads have been blocked due to landslides and access to some towns and villages such as Longquan Village in Ludian County have been made impossible. The city of Zhaotong has also suffered from damage to infrastructure and structural building damage. Power outages have also been reported.

Search and rescue efforts are still underway in hope of finding further survivors amongst the collapsed buildings and this will continue until Sunday 10 August. A woman was rescued from the rubble 67 hours after the earthquake on 6 August. The likelihood of finding further survivors after 72 hours decreases, therefore rescuers are working against the clock. The remoteness of some villages is greatly hindering the rescue effort.

In response to the disaster, the government has deployed over 18,000 rescuers in Yunnan which has included 5000 soldiers, police and firefighters.33,000 tents, 10,000 quilts, 60,000 cotton coats, 10,000 folding beds, 10,000 sleeping bags, 5,000 sets of folding chairs and tables as well as 50 mobile toilets have also been dispatched to the areas affected by the earthquake. The Chinese government has also allocated $97.3 million (600 million Yuan) to fund response and relief.

Concerns have also grown due to a rising barrier lake formed by a landslide blocking River Niulan near the border of Ludian and Qiaojia. Specialists have reported that the water level is rising at 16 cm per hour and will continue to rise. 4200 people downstream have been evacuated due to the increasing threat of flooding. According to Earthquake-Report, the lake has already flooded 370 homes. It is likely that further residents will need to be evacuated while the situation unfolds. Response teams are on site and currently dealing with the situation.

The cause of the earthquake was a shallow strike-slip fault within the Eurasian plate. This is a convergent plate boundary where the Eurasian plate and the Indian plate move towards each other resulting in the formation of intraplate continental transform structures in the surrounding regions which includes the Xiaojiang fault system.

Estimates suggest that the earthquake has cost $6.4 billion (38.48 billion CNY). It will take months before life returns to normal in the affected regions. The death toll is also likely to increase over the next few days as more bodies of victims are pulled out of the rubble in remote areas.