KUNMING – Three were injured in a 5.2-magnitude earthquake that jolted the city of Baoshan in southwest China’s Yunnan province yesterday evening, reported Xinhua.
Local authorities have activated a level-III emergency response and rushed rescue teams to the disaster area.
The earthquake hit Longyang district of Baoshan at 11:27pm yesterday. According to a local report, three suffered minor injuries in the earthquake and have been sent to hospital for medical treatment. Their injuries were all non-life threatening.
The earthquake has caused varying degrees of damage to residential houses, water, electricity, traffic, communication, and other infrastructure in and around the epicentre area, said Zhang Yunyi, who is deputy mayor of Baoshan, at a press conference held this morning.
Over 2,400 people have been sent to the disaster zone to carry out search and rescue operations. A total of 365 tents, 734 folding beds, and 1,470 cotton quilts have been allocated to the affected areas, Zhang added.
Wayao township, Shuizhai township, and Banqiao township, all administered by the Longyang district, are among the most affected. Currently, 2,805 houses in the three locations have been damaged, and more than 11,000 local residents have been relocated to safer places.
Baoshan earthquake relief headquarters will keep tracking and monitoring the disaster situation and identifying potential geological disaster hazards while ensuring adequate access to electricity, communication, and traffic in the affected areas to restore local work and production orders as soon as possible.
The epicentre was detected at 25.35 degrees north latitude and 99.28 degrees east longitude, with a depth of 10 km, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre. The epicentre area is about 1,863m above sea level on average, some 29km away from downtown Baoshan, said the provincial earthquake bureau. – Bernama, May 3, 2023
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