Two more aftershocks on Tuesday jolted the quake-battered areas in southwest China causing panic among the residents as emergency workers scrambled to evacuate 80,000 people.
BEIJING: Two more aftershocks on Tuesday jolted the quake-battered areas in southwest China causing panic among the residents as emergency workers scrambled to evacuate 80,000 people near a swollen lake formed by the devastating May 12 temblor.
The death toll in the quake, the deadliest in three decades which struck 15 days ago, reached 67,183 with 20,790 people still reported missing, the Information Office of the State Council or the Cabinet said. More than 45.61 million people were affected by the quake and 15 million of them had been evacuated, it said.
A 5.7 magnitude aftershock today rumbled across Qingchuan county in Sichuan province and another of 5.4 shook the neighbouring Ningqiang county in Shaanxi province, fuelling more anxiety and fear in the people.
Quoting the China National Seismological Network, official Xinhua news agency said the aftershocks were felt in Chendgu, the capital of Sichuan; Xian, capital of Shaanxi and parts of neighbouring Chongqing Municipality and Gansu province. No casualties had been reported so far, it said.
"Many citizens rushed to the streets from their homes," a resident in Xi'an was quoted as saying.
Qingchuan was the epicentre of a 6.4 magnitude aftershock on Sunday -- the strongest following the quake -- which left eight people dead and hundreds of others injured.
As "quake lakes" caused by temblor-triggered landslides and mudflows threw up a big challenge to officials, emergency workers were trying to evacuate 80,000 people from the area downstream of a swelling quake-induced lake, Xinhua said.
Under an emergency plan, altogether 158,000 people would have to move out from their homes near the Tangjiashan lake in northern Sichuan province, which was swelling with the risk of its banks bursting.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}