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Indybay Feature

Massive earthquake in China kills at least 10,000

by wsws (reposted)
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 :At least 10,000 people were killed when an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude on the Richter scale hit the south-western Chinese province of Sichuan at 2:28 p.m. on Monday. The death toll is climbing continuously as bodies are pulled from the rubble of buildings and rescue workers arrive at new scenes of devastation.
Tremors rocked other parts of China including in Beijing and Shanghai that are thousands of kilometres from Sichuan. At least 300 deaths have been reported in three neighbouring provinces. Even residents in Thailand and Vietnam were forced to evacuate as buildings shook.

The impact of the quake was particularly devastating because it was relatively close to the earths surfacejust 10 kilometres deep. The last major earthquake in China was in 1976 when the entire city of Tangshan was levelled and 270,000 people died.

Dale Rutstein from the UNICEF China organisation told the Scotsman: I would expect the death toll to rise, as Sichuan is one of the most populated provinces and one of the poorest. There are a lot of people living in marginal areas that are difficult to get to, and a lot of buildings in those areas are substandard and could collapse very quickly.

The present death toll includes just 15 deaths in Wenchuan county, right near the epicentre of the earthquake. Its 110,000 residents have had minimal contact with the outside world as of early this morning. In Beichuan county, which is also near the epicentre, 80 percent of buildings have reportedly collapsed, killing more than 7,000 people out of a population of 161,000.

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