At Least 93 Killed after Magnitude 6.8 Earthquake Hits Western China

Milton Quintanilla | Contributor for ChristianHeadlines.com | Published: Sep 12, 2022
At Least 93 Killed after Magnitude 6.8 Earthquake Hits Western China

At Least 93 Killed after Magnitude 6.8 Earthquake Hits Western China

As of Monday, 93 people were killed when a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Western China last week.

According to ABC News, the quake struck Sichuan province on September 5. Much of the damage is centered in the Ganze Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Residents in Chengdu, the provincial capital, were also affected by the earthquake due to strict zero COVID-19 restrictions, including not being permitted to leave their homes. About 21 million Chengu residents remain under lockdown as of Monday. Authorities have reported about 143 COVID-19 cases. In about half of the reported cases, however, infected residents had no symptoms.

Meanwhile, a few districts with zero reported COVID-19 cases were allowed to reopen on Monday.

As reported by state broadcaster CCTV, rescuers said at least 25 people were missing as of Sunday evening. Rescuers struggled to search for survivors and the dead because of heavy rainfall and the risk of landslides, conditions that forced several residents to move to temporary shelters.

According to Chinese news outlet Xinhua News, mourning ceremonies for earthquake victims were held in Luding and Shimian County of southwest China's Sichuan Province on Monday.

Last week's quake is believed to be the strongest earthquake to hit Sichuan province since 2017, Reuters reports. At least 11,000 people were evacuated from the hard-hit area while authorities identified about 500 potential geological hazards, such as landslides and collapsed mountain roads.

In Luding, the quake severely damaged water and power infrastructure and telecommunications. State media also reported that about 243 houses had collapsed, and 13,010 houses were damaged. Additionally, four hotels and hundreds of tourist lodgings were also hit hard by the quake.

Earthquakes are common in Sichuan, especially in the mountainous regions in the west, as there is a tectonically active area by the eastern boundary of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

China's deadliest earthquake in recent decades occurred in 2008 when a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck Sichuan's Wenchuan county. Nearly 70,000 people were killed.

Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Steve Collender


Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.



At Least 93 Killed after Magnitude 6.8 Earthquake Hits Western China