Earthquake in China Topples 7,900 Homes,
83,000 more damaged
Kills Three -Injures 1000+

On July 29th, a Quake was reported that was  a 6.2

Sat August 16, 2003 11:21 PM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - An earthquake hit China's northern region of Inner Mongolia toppling more than 2,700 homes and killing two people, officials said on Sunday.

The temblor measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale hit at 6:58 p.m. (6:58 a.m. EDT) on Saturday near the towns of Bairin Zuoqi and Ar Horqin Qi in eastern Inner Mongolia and could be felt as far away as the capital Beijing, about 300 miles to the south.

At least 43 people were injured.

"We were having dinner at the time when the quake hit and it was fairly strong. At the start it sounded like an avalanche. Everybody ran out to the street," a police official in Bairin Zuoqi told Reuters.

"No one dared sleep at home last (Saturday) night and we all stayed outside. We can see people just sleeping on the streets," she said.

The official Xinhua News agency quoted a local seismological official as saying 24,483 homes were damaged and 2,602 collapsed in 98 villages in the Bairin Zouqi area, calling the earthquake the strongest in the area in 700 years.

Xinhua said another 169 homes collapsed in villages near Ar Horqin Qi.

"Lots of houses collapsed and we are still investigating the losses," a State Seismological Bureau official told Reuters.

The official put the death toll at two and the injured at 43. Xinhua said there were 42 injured, nine of them seriously.

An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale killed 15 and injured nearly 300 in the southwestern province of Yunnan in July.

Three killed in China earthquake

Officials say an earthquake which hit China's northern region of Inner Mongolia, killed three people and injured around 1,000.

The quake measured 5.9 on the Richter scale and was followed by up to 100 aftershocks.

An official said the quake also destroyed 8,000 homes. Rescue and relief work is continuing.

Seismological experts are not predicting any more big earthquakes but aftershocks are expected to continue.

18/08/2003 09:54:28 | ABC Radio Australia News

The magnitude-5.9 quake struck Saturday evening in a thinly populated area of eastern Inner Mongolia between the towns of Bairin Zuoqi and Ar Horqin qi, about 220 miles northeast of Beijing.

The death and injury toll climbed as a 30-member team of state and local officials and seismologists arrived at the scene Sunday to assess the damage.

Three people have been confirmed dead so far and 1,000 injured, said an official at the State Seismology Bureau who wouldn't give his name. Seventy-eight aftershocks have been recorded since the initial quake, he said in a telephone interview Monday.

Officials from Inner Mongolia's government in the provincial capital, Hohhot, confirmed the numbers.

More than 7,900 houses collapsed and 83,000 more were damaged in the quake, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing officials with the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The tremor caused more than $168 million in economic losses, the officials said. Scores were forced to flee their homes when the temblor struck at 6:58 p.m. Saturday.

Earthquakes are rare in Inner Mongolia, a sprawling region that measures more than 1,300 miles from its western edge to its northeastern reaches.

The quake that caused the highest number of deaths in China this year occurred Feb. 24 in the far western region of Xinjiang. The magnitude-6.8 tremor killed 268 people.

China Dayao Earthquake

Geneva, 29 July, 2003

A strong earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale and depth of 10 km hit China on July 21, 2003 – the second earthquake in half a year. The latest quake affected more than one million people and damaged more than a million housing units in Dayao county, Yunan Province in south east China. The quake center was 25 kilometers away from Tanhua Town. As of 24 July, 2003, the earthquake had claimed 16 lives and injured 506 people, 71 of whom serious. Aftershock are still being felt. 264,474 housing units have collapsed, making 8,406 families homeless. 336 schools have been damaged. The infrastructure like irrigation systems, roads, clinics and electricity have also been seriously affected. Damage is estimated at about 9.25 million yuan (some 1.2 million US dollars).

This disaster has affected 70% of Dayao county. A total of 148 villages with 48,048 households and a population of 199,509 were affected. Located 180 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital Kunming, Dayao is an impoverished area. More than 90% of the people belong to the Yi minority. The average income per year per capita is 275 yuan ($ 34).

The earthquake has had a devastating impact on people’s lives. It has severely hampered access to villages that were difficult to reach to start with. There is a serious lack of medicine, food, clothing and shelter, and other basic necessities.

To make matters worse, Tanhua Township, which has not experienced any rainfall over the past month, suffered sudden heavy rain 20 minutes after the earthquake. The survivors are forced to stay outside at night in temperatures of 4-5 centigrade.

Li Leli described her experience: “I was in sound sleep when I felt a shock, hearing the mud falling. I was hit in the head, in the leg, on the shoulder. Slightly injured, I dashed out without putting on enough clothes.”

A journalist reported collapsed houses everywhere when he entered Songziyuan Village on the morning of July, 22, 2003. There were big crevices in the streets and the roads were blocked by mud slides and big roots. Villagers were busy saving belongings. When the reporter arrived at Li Bizhong’s home, a 32-year-old man could not help bursting into tears. Pointing at his fallen house he said: “When my family was sleeping soundly, the earthquake came. My house collapsed, and I made great efforts to climb out of the debris. My head and hands were wounded, but I didn’t care since I should hurry to look for my wife and children. I found my two daughters in two piles of dust, and hurried to dig them out. My two daughters were both badly injured: one could still talk, while the other, with her mouth full of mud, could not say a word. The villagers helped her to the hospital. My wife was buried under the fallen house. More than ten villagers helped to rescue her, and she was dug out at 10 am the next day. She did not survive.”t survive.”

Emergency Needs

The quake survivors are in urgent need of quilts, blankets and tents to help survive the cold nights.

ACT Member Amity Foundation is focusing on the worst-hit Tanhua Township as their project area. Amity plans to provide 3,000 households with quilts and tents. The local partner in Yunan has requested factories in Kunming to produce cotton quilts. Plastic sheets for tents are being transported from Guanxi, the neighboring province, to the disaster areas. It is expected that these materials will be delivered to the quake victims on 1 August 2003.

Amity is requesting a total of US Dollars 100,000 to meet the above-mentioned needs. An ACT Appeal will be forthcoming.

Any funding indication or pledge should be communicated to Jessie Kgoroeadira, ACT Finance Officer (jkg@act-intl.org). Thank you.

ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response.

The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.

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WHY ISN'T CNN OR FOX COVERING THIS?

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