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.
Affected Region (Source: Reliefweb)
Intensity of the earthquake (Source: USGS)
Earthquake damage
Earthquake damage
Earthquake damage
Earthquake damage (Source: AP: Photo: Andy Wong)
Earthquake damage (Source: AP: Photo: Andy Wong)
Earthquake damage (Source: AP: Photo: Andy Wong)
Earthquake damage (Source: AP: Photo: Andy Wong)
Earthquake damage (Source: AP: Photo: Andy Wong)
Earthquake damage (Source: AP: Photo: Andy Wong)
Earthquake damage (Source: AP: Photo: Andy Wong)
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