Two strong earthquakes shook a remote region of northwestern China’s desertlands, killing at least eight people, the government said on Sunday.
The quakes — magnitudes 6,1 and 5,8 — hit Gansu province at 8.41pm and 8.48pm (12.41pm and 12.48pm GMT) on Saturday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported from Lanzhou, the provincial capital. It said another 17 people suffered minor injuries.
It said the areas hit hardest were near the city of Zhangye.
Authorities lowered water levels in two reservoirs on Sunday after earthquake damage to the dams left a large patch of land in danger of flooding, the government said.
Cracks were spotted on the dams of the Shuangshusi and Zhaizhaizi reservoirs in Gansu province’s Mingle county, the official Xinhua News Agency said, and the county government decided to release some stored water so levels would run down.
Xinhua, quoting the provincial seismological bureau, said 30% of houses near the epicentres were damaged severely and that 90% of buildings in Yaozhaizi, a nearby village, collapsed.
The epicentres were about 500km northwest of Lanzhou, Xinhua said.
The Hong Kong Observatory reported one ”intense” tremor at 8.46pm (12.46pm GMT) on Saturday and said the epicentre was at the border of Gansu province with neighbouring Qinghai province. It estimated the magnitude at 6,1.
A government task force was en route to the area Sunday morning.
Earlier this month, a strong earthquake rumbled through a remote, seismically active area of China’s mountainous southwest, killing three people and felling at least 50 houses in an ethnic minority enclave in Yunnan province. Fourteen people were seriously injured in Dayao county.
In July, a 6,2-magnitude quake in Dayao county killed at least 15 people and injured 294. Local officials said many residents were still rebuilding homes damaged in the earlier quake when the temblor on Thursday night caused further destruction.
The deadliest earthquake in China this year struck an area near Kashgar in the northwestern region of Xinjiang on February 24, killing 268 people. Xinjiang abuts Gansu.
The worst earthquake in China’s recent history hit on July 28 1976, in the northeastern city of Tangshan, not far from Beijing — a tremor whose magnitude was as high as 8,2. More than 240 000 people were killed. — Sapa-AP