Zware aardbeving trof China

Chengdu - Sichuan Province - China

Camera Crew Captures Quake Terror at Chengdu Airport

5.12.08 7.8M Earthquake in Sichuan China

LIVE footage from netbar security cam in Sichuan earthquake!

China Earthquake 7.8 [2008/05/12]

Footage from a surveillance cam in Sichuan earthquake

quote:

Drie dagen nationale rouw in China
Bron: NOS

China heeft drie dagen van nationale rouw afgekondigd om de tienduizenden slachtoffers van de aardbeving te herdenken. Vanaf morgen hangen op alle overheidsgebouwen de vlaggen halfstok. Er wordt rekening gehouden met zeker 50.000 doden.

President Hu Jintao heeft veel lof voor de buitenlandse hulp die is ontvangen na de aardbeving. Hij bedankt China's internationale vrienden en buitenlandse regeringen voor alle bijdragen.

In de stad Beichuan is het reddingswerk hervat. Gisteren verlieten hulpverleners de stad na geruchten over een dreigende overstroming.

quote:

China declares national mourning
Bron: BBC News

China has announced three days of mourning for the tens of thousands of victims of Monday's earthquake.

It will begin with a three-minute silence at 1428 (0628 GMT), exactly a week after the quake struck the south-western Sichuan province.

The Olympic torch relay will also be suspended for three days.

The number of confirmed deaths has now risen to 32,477, but officials say the final toll may reach 50,000. More than 220,000 people have been injured.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has expressed gratitude for the international help with relief efforts following the magnitude 7.9 quake.

"I express heartfelt thanks to the foreign governments and international friends," Mr Hu was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Offers of help in the relief effort from home and abroad have now surpassed $860m (£440m), Chinese officials say.

The first aid supplied by the US has arrived, with an air force plane loaded with tents, lanterns and 15,000 meals landing in Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu.

However, a British rescue team standing by in Hong Kong is returning home after being refused permission to travel to the earthquake zone.

Rescue efforts have resumed in Beichuan, after the city was evacuated amid fears that it could be engulfed by a river bursting its banks.

The city, which lies near the epicentre of the quake, was reduced to ruins.

Aftershocks

Three giant pandas are missing from the Wolong Nature Reserve, Xinhua reports. All the pandas at the reserve were initially reported safe.

There are still stories of survivors being pulled from the rubble.

One man who was rescued on Sunday, Tang Xiong, had only had slight bruises and was conscious when he was rescued in Beichuan county 139 hours after the quake, Xinhua said.

A 53-year-old man was pulled from the rubble in the town of Yingxiu in Wenchuan county after surviving for 148 hours, state media said.

Rescue workers worked for eight hours to save him.

The region shuddered again as a strong aftershock - measured by the US Geological Survey at 6.0 - struck at 0108 on Sunday (1508 GMT Saturday).

There have been hundreds of aftershocks, some causing landslides. Rescue work has also been hampered by heavy rain in some areas.

The Chinese government has organised a massive search and rescue effort. It released figures on Saturday demonstrating the scale of the operation.

It said 220,109 people had been recorded injured, not just in Sichuan, but in Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Hubei, Henan, and Guizhou provinces.

It said some 181,460 tents, 220,000 quilts, and 170,000 cotton-padded garments had been despatched to the disaster zone.

More than 10,600 people are believed to be still trapped, Xinhua said, citing regional officials

Rescue teams from South Korea, Singapore and Russia have joined Japanese and Taiwanese experts taking part in the search.

The specialist teams are equipped with sniffer dogs, and fibre-optic cameras and heat sensors to detect people buried under the rubble.

But experts say the chances of finding people alive are diminishing.

Nuclear facilities in the affected area have been confirmed to be safe, the ministry of environmental protection's Nuclear Safety Department said, Xinhua has reported.

China has a research reactor, two nuclear fuel production sites and two nuclear weapon facilities in Sichuan, all between 60-145km (40-90 miles) from the epicentre, according to the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety.

quote:

Grote overstroming dreigt in China
Bron: NOS

In het aardbevingsgebied in China dreigt een grote overstroming bij Beichuan. Door de aardbeving van maandag zijn bij de Chinese stad rivierstromen geblokkeerd en is een meer ontstaan.

Het waterpeil is de afgelopen dagen flink gestegen en een Reuters-fotograaf zegt dat het meer overloopt. Op welke schaal dat gebeurt, is onbekend. Ook is onduidelijk of er slachtoffers zijn.

Vanwege het dreigende gevaar was de afgelopen uren een massale evacuatie op gang gekomen. Duizenden inwoners zijn naar hoger gelegen gebied gevlucht. De aardbeving heeft volgens de regering aan 29.000 mensen het leven gekost.

quote:

China quake victims flee 'flood'
Bron: BBC News

There has been panic in the quake-hit Chinese city of Beichuan after a river nearby burst its bank sparking reports it could flood the entire city.

The BBC's Paul Danahar in Beichuan says there was a stampede as thousands of people fled to higher ground.

The whole city has been evacuated, forcing the suspension of all rescue efforts, our correspondent says.

Beichuan is close to the epicentre of Monday's devastating quake in which it is feared about 50,000 people died.

On Saturday the number of confirmed deaths rose to 28,881 and the Chinese authorities say that about five million people have been made homeless by the disaster.

Our correspondent in Beichuan says the city went from a scene of rescue and relief into mayhem.

"Everybody just ran - rescuers, army relief teams, medical workers and locals - and people who were in the process of being rescued had to be left behind.

"We were in the process of filming a man about to be pulled out after hours of digging and the rescue team had to abandon him and run."

Our correspondent has now returned to the heart of the city after the authorities said that though the river had burst its banks the city was not under threat from the water, but the majority of people are remaining on the surrounding hillsides.

"It is not surprising," our correspondent says. "This entire community has been shaken to its core, they are surrounded by unstable buildings which threaten to topple at any moment, and the people have been deeply traumatised by what has happened."

The Chinese government has organised a massive search and rescue effort, which has garnered some success.

On Saturday, 33 people were dug out of the rubble in Beichuan, China's official Xinhua news agency reported, they include a 52-year-old man who was pulled free after 117 hours buried in debris.

And in the hard-hit county of Wenchuan a German tourist was pulled from rubble having been buried for 114 hours.

Race against time

China's president has urged rescuers throughout the earthquake-struck province of Sichuan to race to save lives.

Visiting the south-western province, Hu Jintao said "time is pressing" during the effort's "most crucial phase".

"Although the time for the best chance of rescue, the first 72 hours after an earthquake, has passed, saving lives remains the top priority of our work," Mr Hu told distraught relatives of those still missing.

On Friday, Mr Hu toured Mianyang, one of the cities worst-hit by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake, where he viewed relief efforts and met rescue workers.

Correspondents say the Chinese president's presence in the region appears to reflect the level of government concern over the scale of the disaster.

Premier Wen Jiabao said the quake was the most destructive and widespread since the People's Republic was founded in 1949.

Its scale was greater than that of the Tangshan earthquake in 1976 which left 240,000 dead, he said.

quote:

China schat dodental aardbeving op 50.000
Bron: Nu.nl

Het dodental als gevolg van de zware aardbeving in de Chinese provincie Sichuan zal waarschijnlijk oplopen tot boven de 50.000.

Tot nu toe zijn bijna 20.000 doden geborgen en tienduizenden mensen liggen nog onder het puin, meldde staatspersbureau Xinhua donderdag.

De hoop dat er nog overlevenden worden gevonden na de beving van maandag, wordt met de dag kleiner. "Als er nog enkele overlevenden zijn onder dergelijke omstandigheden, zou dat een kwestie van geluk of een wonder zijn", citeerde Xinhua Zhang Zhoushu, vicedirecteur van de overheidsinstelling Aardbeving Rampen Preventie Centrum.

Amputeren

In de stad Yingxiu werd donderdag nog wel een 11-jarig meisje onder het puin vandaan gehaald. Ze had daar 68 uur gelegen. Om haar te bevrijden moesten artsen eerst wel een been van haar amputeren. "Het is fantastisch dat ze nog in leven is!", schreeuwde een omstander.

De toestand van het meisje was donderdag echter nog kritiek. China heeft de hulpverlening in Sichuan drastisch opgevoerd. De 50.000 militairen die al actief zijn in het gebied krijgen versterking van nog eens 30.000 man.

Distributie

Negentig extra helikopters moeten voor een betere ontsluiting van het rampgebied zorgen. Veel wegen zijn geblokkeerd waardoor de distributie van noodhulp ernstig wordt belemmerd.

In het rampgebied worden ook tentenkampen opgezet voor de honderdduizenden mensen die dakloos zijn geraakt. Uit angst voor naschokken durven veel Chinezen niet in gebouwen te overnachten.

Overlevenden in het gebied worden ook zelf steeds meer actief. Zo probeerden ouders donderdag met man en macht circa negenhonderd kinderen onder het puin van een ingestorte schoolgebouw in de zwaargetroffen stad Dujiangyan te halen.

Doorzoeken

"Het is niet dat we de reddingswerkers niet vertrouwen. Ze hebben heel veel werk verricht, maar ze kunnen gewoonweg niet alle plaatsen doorzoeken in zo'n groot gebied", aldus een inwoner.

De leider van de Communistische Jeugd Liga in de stad Chengdu waarschuwde donderdag dat vrijwilligers die slachtoffers willen helpen, meer kwaad dan goed doen. De vrijwilligers belemmeren volgens hem reddingswerkzaamheden, blokkeren de wegen en worden in sommige gevallen zelf slachtoffer.

Reuzenpanda

Een groep van 33 buitenlandse toeristen is donderdag geëvacueerd uit het Wolong-reservaat, het belangrijkste centrum voor het fokken van de bedreigde reuzenpanda in China. Wolong ligt in het bergachtige gebied Wenchuan, waar het epicentrum van de aarbeving van maandag lag.

Het Chinese staatspersbureau Xinhua meldde dat de buitenlanders met militaire helikopters zijn overgebracht naar Chengdu. Onder de geëvacueerden zijn Fransen, Amerikanen en Britten.

quote:

Gevaar doorbraak stuw China geweken
Bron: NOS

In Midden-China is het gevaar geweken
dat een grote stuwdam doorbreekt.Een
groot aantal militairen heeft scheuren
in de wand gedicht.Andere troepen halen
de druk op het bouwwerk weg door water
uit het stuwmeer te pompen.

Er werd vanmiddag groot alarm geslagen
toen bovenaan de wand scheuren werden
ontdekt van tien centimeter breed.Bij
een doorbraak zouden veel mensen in het
dal getroffen worden.

Het officiële dodental als gevolg van
de aardbeving staat op 15.000.In de
provincie Sichuan liggen mogelijk nog
25.000 mensen onder het puin van de
ingestorte gebouwen.

quote:

Paniek na naschok in Chengdu
Bron: ANP

Inwoners van Chengdu, de hoofdstad van de door een zware aardbeving getroffen provincie Sichuan, zijn dinsdag in paniek de straat opgerend na een zware naschok. Dat heeft het Chinese staatspersbureau Xinhua gemeld.

De naschok die tot paniek leidde had om 09.10 uur (Nederlandse tijd) plaats. Xinhua meldde dat na de beving van maandag ongeveer twintig naschokken zijn gevoeld. Daarvan hadden er enkele een kracht van zeker 6 op de schaal van Richter. De beving van maandag had een kracht van 7,8 op de schaal van Richter.

quote:

Death toll rises in China quake
Bron: BBC News

The most powerful earthquake to hit China in 30 years has killed at least 10,000 people in south-western Sichuan province, with thousands more trapped.

Chinese state media said that 10,000 people were thought to be buried in one town alone near the epicentre of the earthquake in Wenchuan County.

A team of 1,300 troops and medics has now reached Wenchuan, which was largely cut off by the quake.

Premier Wen Jiabao has urged rescuers to work as hard as they can.

But rescue efforts are being hampered by heavy rain and badly damaged roads.

"People's lives and property safety are the top priorities and many people are still trapped in debris," Xinhua news agency quoted Mr Wen as saying in the disaster relief headquarters, north-west of Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu.

"We must treasure every second and do our utmost to save survivors."

China has deployed 50,000 troops to help with relief efforts, 16,000 of whom are already in the area.

The BBC's Nick Mackie in Dujiangyan says there are hundreds if not thousands of people just sleeping out in the streets under tarpaulins, after torrential rain fell all through the night.

Cries for help

The 7.8 magnitude quake struck on Monday at 1428 local time (0628 GMT) and was felt as far away as Beijing and the Thai capital, Bangkok.

Boulders and landslides are blocking roads in the worst-hit areas and helicopters have been unable to land because of bad weather.

In Wenchuan County, a top official, Wang Bin, appealed via satellite phone for outside help.

"We are in urgent need of tents, food, medicine and satellite communications equipment through air drop," he said.

"We also need medical workers to save the injured people here."

In the nearby town of Mianzhu, 10,000 people were thought to be buried and massive landslides had buried roads to outlying villages, Xinhua reported.

Across the region, schools, hospitals and chemical plants were all reported to have been affected.

There were harrowing reports from the scene of a school collapse in Dujiangyan city - south-east of the epicentre - where 900 students were buried and at least 50 killed.

Teenagers buried beneath the rubble of the three-storey Juyuan Middle School building struggled to break free, while others cried out for help, Xinhua reported.

Another of the worst-hit areas appears to be Beichuan county, about 50km from the epicentre.

Some 80% of buildings there were reported to have been destroyed, leaving between 3,000 and 5,000 people dead and up to 10,000 injured.

Another school collapsed there, leaving more than 1,000 students dead or buried, Xinhua said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people were reported to have been buried in two collapsed chemical plants in Shifang in Sichuan, and at least five other schools were reported to be in ruins.

More than 150 people were killed in the other provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi, and in Chongqing municipality, Xinhua said.

'All-out efforts'

US President George W Bush expressed condolences to victims' families, while Japan offered to send aid.

"The Chinese government are to be commended for their quick and efficient response. The UK stands ready to assist," said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Several strong aftershocks have been reported since the quake, China's worst since 1976 when 242,000 people were killed in Tangshan.

Immediately after the disaster, President Hu Jintao has urged "all-out" efforts to rescue victims.

The BBC's Quentin Somerville says this is probably the most significant natural disaster to hit China in recent memory, but that the Chinese army has a good record of mobilising and getting people to safety.

He also says it is one of the most open and speedy responses to an emergency he has ever seen from Chinese state media.

The fact the quake was felt in Beijing, he says, means millions of people will feel connected to the disaster and will be watching TV screens closely to see how the government responds.

quote:

Hulpverleners bij epicentrum China
Bron: NOS

De eerste reddingswerkers hebben het epicentrum bereikt van de verwoestende aardbeving in Midden-China. De streek Wenchuan was 24 uur van de buitenwereld afgesloten: het telefoonverkeer lag plat en wegen waren verwoest.

Alleen al in de provincie Sichuan zijn 10.000 mensen omgekomen. Dat aantal kan nog flink oplopen omdat veel mensen onder het puin liggen en hulpverleners nu pas de zwaarder getroffen gebieden kunnen bereiken.

De beving was ook in Peking voelbaar, maar de gebouwen van de Olympische Spelen zijn onbeschadigd. De grote dam in de Yangtze heeft het ook gehouden.

quote:

Thousands dead in Chinese quake
Bron: BBC News

A powerful earthquake has killed at least 8,500 people in China's south-western Sichuan province, up to 5,000 of them in just one county.

Many more are feared killed and injured in other parts of the country after the quake, which had a magnitude of 7.8, struck at 1428 local time (0628 GMT).

At least 50 bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a school where an estimated 900 students were buried.

President Hu Jintao has urged "all-out" efforts to rescue victims.

The epicentre of the earthquake was about 92km (57 miles) from Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital.

Because the earthquake struck in the middle of the day, it is feared that many schoolchildren may be among the victims.

Cries for help

One of the worst-hit areas appears to be Beichuan county, part of the Mianyang city municipal area, about 50km from the epicentre.

Some 80% of buildings there were reported to have been destroyed, leaving between 3,000 and 5,000 people dead and up to 10,000 injured.

Meanwhile hundreds of people were reported to have been buried in two collapsed chemical plants in Shifang in Sichuan, and at least five other schools were reported to have collapsed.

And there are fears the death toll could turn out to be much higher once the damage in Wenchuan county - the epicentre - is assessed, says BBC China analyst Shirong Chen.

The area is very rugged, full of mountains and valleys and a number of roads are connected with bridges from one mountain top to the next, he says.

Wenchuan county is also home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, China's leading research and breeding base for endangered giant pandas. The centre could not be reached by phone, it was reported.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to Chengdu immediately, said China needed "calm, confidence, courage and strong leadership".

"We will definitely overcome this major disaster," he promised.

US President George W Bush expressed condolences to victims' families, while Japan offered to send aid.

There were harrowing reports from the scene of a school collapse in Dujiangyan city - about 100km (60 miles) from the epicentre - where 900 students were buried and 50 dead.

Teenagers buried beneath the rubble of the three-storey Juyuan Middle School building were struggling to break free, while others were crying out for help, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Parents were watching as cranes excavated the site. Villagers rushed to help with the rescue.

Two girls said they escaped because they had "run faster than others".

Fast response

Dozens of aftershocks have been reported since the quake, which was felt in Beijing, 1,545km (960 miles) away, and the Thai capital Bangkok, 1,800km (1,200 miles) away.

It was the strongest to hit Sichuan province in more than 30 years, Xinhua said.

The province is the most populated part of China - home to 87 million people.

State television said the quake had not caused major damage to Chengdu, which has a population of more than 10 million people, or to the nearby Three Gorges Dam.

Troops and helicopters have been sent to help with relief work.

The BBC's Quentin Somerville says this is probably the the most significant natural disaster to hit China in recent memory, but that the Chinese army has a good record of mobilising and getting people to safety.

He also says it is one of the most open and speedy responses to an emergency he has ever seen from Chinese state media.

The quake was felt as far away as Beijing, he says, meaning millions of people will feel connected to the disaster and will be watching TV screens closely to see how the government responds.

quote:

Zware aardbeving treft China
Bron: NOS

De provincie Sichuan in het zuidwesten van China is getroffen door een zware aardbeving. Volgens het Chinese persbureau Xinhua zijn er tot nu toe zeker 107 mensen gedood.

Verwacht wordt dat het dodental hoger komt te liggen. Telefoonlijnen werken niet meer, reddingswerkers proberen de afgesloten gebieden te bereiken.

In Dujiangyan stortte een middelbare school in. Er zouden zeker 900 studenten onder het puin terecht zijn gekomen. Tenminste zes leerlingen zijn dood teruggevonden. In de grote stad Chongqing werden veel schoolkinderen door de beving verrast. Tenminste vijf schoolkinderen vonden de dood.

De beving in de provincie Sichuan had een kracht van 7,5 op de schaal van Richter, zegt de Amerikaanse seismologische dienst. Het epicentrum lag zo'n honderd kilometer van de hoofdstad Chengdu. In de provincie Sichuan wonen zeker 10 miljoen mensen.

Militaire hulp
President Hu Jintao zegt dat alles op alles moet worden gezet om de slachtoffers te redden. Premier Wen Jiabao is naar het gebied afgereisd en militairen zijn onderweg om hulp te bieden.

De schok was op duizenden kilometers afstand te voelen. Niet alleen in de Chinese hoofdstad Peking en in de havenstad Shanghai, maar ook in de buurlanden Thailand en Vietnam en op het eiland Taiwan stonden gebouwen te schudden.

quote:

Negenhonderd scholieren onder puin in China
Bron: NU.nl

Bij de aardbeving in de Chinese provincie Sichuan zijn bijna negenhonderd schoolkinderen onder het puin bedolven. Dit berichtte het staatspersbureau Xinhua.
ANP

Twee schoolgebouwen in de provinciehoofdstad Chengdu zijn naar verluidt als gevolg van de krachtige aardbeving maandag ingestort.

De beving had een kracht van 7,5 op de schaal van Richter en het epicentrum lag ruim 90 kilometer van Chengdu verwijderd.

Het officiële dodental staat op zes. Maar gevreesd wordt dat dit enorm zal oplopen zodra gegevens beschikbaar komen van de gebieden waarmee alle contact is verbroken als gevolg van de beving.

quote:

Magnitude 7.8 Earthquake Rocks Central China; 900 Students Buried, 107 Dead
Bron: FOXNews

CHONGQING, China — Thousands of soldiers and police were dispatched to central China after a massive earthquake Monday killed at least 107 people and buried nearly 900 schoolchildren. The death toll was expected to rise sharply.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck in the middle of the afternoon — when classes and office towers were full — 57 miles northwest of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu.

Xinhua News Agency said four of the dead were ninth-grade students killed when the Juyuan Middle School building collapsed. Photographs showed heavy cranes trying to move rubble from the ruined structure.

It did not say how many of the 900 trapped students were feared dead.

The earthquake comes less than three months before the start of the Beijing Summer Olympics, when China hopes to use to showcase its rise in the world.

Xinhua said its reporters in Juyuan township about 60 miles from the epicenter in Wenchuan county in Sichuan province saw buried teenagers struggling to break loose from underneath the rubble of the three-story school "while others were crying out for help."

Photos posted on the Internet and found on the Chinese search engine Baidu showed arms and a torso sticking out of the rubble of the school as dozens of people worked to free them, using small mechanical winches or their hands to move concrete slabs.

Another photo from Wenchuan showed what appeared to have been a six-story building flattened, ripped away from taller buildings of gray concrete.

Xinhua quoted the Ministry of Civil Affairs as saying the 107 dead had been killed in Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces and in the municipality of Chongqing. It said many had died in collapsed buildings but did not give details.

More than 5,000 soldiers and police have been rushed into Sichuan to help in the disaster relief.

The airport in Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu, was closed and roads were clogged with traffic after the earthquake, state television reported.

Rain was also predicted for the disaster area.

The quake struck 57 miles (92 kilometers) northwest of Chengdu at 2:28 p.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. It was centered about 6 miles below the surface. A series of smaller aftershocks followed.

Calls into the city did not go through as panicked residents quickly overloaded the telephone system.

"In Chengdu, mobile telecommunication switches have experienced jams and thousands of servers were out of service," said Sha Yuejia, deputy chief executive officer of China Mobile.

Although it was difficult to telephone Chengdu, an Israeli student, Ronen Medzini, sent a text message to The Associated Press saying there were power and water outages there.

"Traffic jams, no running water, power outs, everyone sitting in the streets, patients evacuated from hospitals sitting outside and waiting," he said.

Xinhua said an underground water pipe ruptured near the city's southern railway station, flooding a main thoroughfare. Reporters saw buildings with cracks in their walls but no collapses, Xinhua said.

State television broadcast tips for anyone trapped in the earthquake. "If you're buried, keep calm and conserve your energy. Seek water and food, and wait patiently for rescue," CCTV said.

The earthquake also rattled buildings in Beijing 930 miles to the north. The Chinese capital is expected to be full of hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors when the Olympics start on Aug. 8.

Many Beijing office towers were evacuated, including the building housing the media offices for the organizers of the Olympics, which start in August.

Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Chengdu just before sunset to oversee rescue work.

"The Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council (Cabinet) have asked officials at all levels to be at the front line of the fighting the earthquake and lead the people in their rescue work," he told reporters on the way.

People ran screaming into the streets in other cities, where many residents said they had never been in an earthquake. In Fuyang, 660 miles to the east in Anhui province, chandeliers in the lobby of the Buckingham Palace Hotel swayed. "We've never felt anything like this our whole lives," said a hotel employee surnamed Zhu.

Patients at the Fuyang People's No. 1 Hospital were evacuated. An hour after the quake, a half-dozen patients in blue-striped pajamas stood outside the hospital. One was laying on a hospital bed in the parking lot.

Closer to the epicenter in Chongqing, Lai Dequn was napping while her mother watched TV on the 19th floor of a hotel. "I suddenly felt the bed shaking and then realized it must be an earthquake," said the 42-year-old Lai. "So I just put on slippers and helped my mother down to the ground floor."

In Shanghai, skyscrapers swayed and most office occupants went rushing into the streets. The quake was also felt as far away as Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake is considered a major event, capable of causing widespread damage and injuries in populated areas.

The last serious earthquake in China was in 2003, when a 6.8-magnitude quake killed 268 people in Bachu county in the west of Xinjiang.

China's deadliest earthquake in modern history struck the northeastern city of Tangshan on July 28, 1976, killing 240,000 people.