iWantAMac
Feb 24, 2003, 07:30 AM
Scores dead in China quake
Monday, February 24, 2003 Posted: 5:59 AM EST (1059 GMT)
BEIJING, China -- A devastating earthquake has shaken China's remote northwest, killing at least 242 people, injuring another 1,000 and topping more than 1,000 buildings.
The death toll has risen by 200 since early reports by China's official Xinhua agency from the remote region, and authorities fear the death toll from Monday morning's quake will rise.
The quake struck Bachu county, which has more than 370,000 residents, and officials have rushed to a badly-hit village in the area.
There, army soldiers and rescue crews are combing through more than 1,000 collapsed houses and school buildings looking for survivors.
As aftershocks rattled the predominantly Muslim region, an official from nearby Kashgar county told CNN an unknown number of school children were trapped under a collapsed building.
Most of those dead were found in toppled houses after the quake struck during breakfast, one police officer told The Associated Press.
Many of those who survived the quake stayed outside in near-freezing temperatures as they were too afraid to stay in their homes for fear of further damage.
The quake struck the western edge of Xinjiang province at 10.03 a.m. Monday (0203 GMT), according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which reported the quake's magnitude as 6.3.
Chinese officials said the quake measured a magnitude of 6.8.
The area is about 3330 kilometers (2070 miles) west of Beijing, near China's mountainous border with Kyrgyzstan.
The quake was also felt in the provincial capital Urumqi, more than 1,000 kilometers to the northeast.
Earthquakes are common in Xinjiang, especially in its west, which covers the eastern foothills of the soaring Pamir and Tianshan mountains.
But they usually cause few injuries and little damage because the area is so sparsely populated.
The country's largest quake in recent times struck the northern city of Tangshan in 1976, killing more than a quarter million people.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/02/24/china.quake/index.html
Monday, February 24, 2003 Posted: 5:59 AM EST (1059 GMT)
BEIJING, China -- A devastating earthquake has shaken China's remote northwest, killing at least 242 people, injuring another 1,000 and topping more than 1,000 buildings.
The death toll has risen by 200 since early reports by China's official Xinhua agency from the remote region, and authorities fear the death toll from Monday morning's quake will rise.
The quake struck Bachu county, which has more than 370,000 residents, and officials have rushed to a badly-hit village in the area.
There, army soldiers and rescue crews are combing through more than 1,000 collapsed houses and school buildings looking for survivors.
As aftershocks rattled the predominantly Muslim region, an official from nearby Kashgar county told CNN an unknown number of school children were trapped under a collapsed building.
Most of those dead were found in toppled houses after the quake struck during breakfast, one police officer told The Associated Press.
Many of those who survived the quake stayed outside in near-freezing temperatures as they were too afraid to stay in their homes for fear of further damage.
The quake struck the western edge of Xinjiang province at 10.03 a.m. Monday (0203 GMT), according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which reported the quake's magnitude as 6.3.
Chinese officials said the quake measured a magnitude of 6.8.
The area is about 3330 kilometers (2070 miles) west of Beijing, near China's mountainous border with Kyrgyzstan.
The quake was also felt in the provincial capital Urumqi, more than 1,000 kilometers to the northeast.
Earthquakes are common in Xinjiang, especially in its west, which covers the eastern foothills of the soaring Pamir and Tianshan mountains.
But they usually cause few injuries and little damage because the area is so sparsely populated.
The country's largest quake in recent times struck the northern city of Tangshan in 1976, killing more than a quarter million people.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/02/24/china.quake/index.html
