At least 56 killed, 600 injured as strong quake jolts China

PanARMENIAN.Net - A strong 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit southwestern China's Sichuan province on Saturday, April 28 killing at least 56 people and injuring about 600 close to where a big quake killed almost 70,000 people in 2008, Reuters said.

The earthquake occurred at 8.02 a.m. (0002 GMT) in Lushan county near Ya'an city and the epicenter had a depth of 12 km (7.5 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake was felt by residents in neighboring provinces and in the provincial capital of Chengdu, causing many people to rush out of buildings, according to accounts on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging service.

The official Xinhua news agency said 56 people had been confirmed dead. Other state media said about 600 were injured, dozens of them seriously.

President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang said that all efforts must be put into rescuing victims to limit the death toll as much as possible. Li was on his way to Ya'an, state media said.

Xinhua said 2,000 troops were heading to the area to help with rescue efforts. State television CCTV said only emergency vehicles were being allowed into Ya'an, though Chengdu airport had reopened.

Most of the deaths were concentrated in Lushan, where water and electricity were cut off. Pictures on Chinese news sites showed collapsed buildings and people in bloodied bandages being treated in hospital.