Two Strong Temblors Jolt West China 10 Hours Apart
Tang Shihua
DATE:  Aug 09 2017
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Two Strong Temblors Jolt West China 10 Hours Apart Two Strong Temblors Jolt West China 10 Hours Apart

(Yicai Global) Aug. 9 -- Two separate strong earthquakes hit two sparsely-populated western China regions late yesterday and early today in about a 10-hour interval, confirmed to have 19 lives, with over 200 injured.

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Jiuzhaigou, a scenic tourist attraction in China's southwestern Sichuan province late last night.

At least 19 people were killed and 247 injured in the seismic event, the China Earthquake Networks Center reported. 

 Over 31,500 stranded travelers have evacuated to safe locations in the wake of the quake, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Electricity has been mostly restored in affected areas and the military has helped with relief efforts, a state broadcaster reported, adding that Jiuzhaigou's airport was operating as normal after the runway was checked for damage.

No serious property damage is reported thus far, but the highways connecting the epicenter to the outside were apparently smashed either by rock falling from high mountains or just broken by the strong forces the quake unleashed, which also destroyed a handful of vehicles on the road at the time.

An 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck Wenchuan, Sichuan province in 2008 -- which is not far from yesterday's epicenter. It killed over 69,000 and injured nearly 375,000.

No link exists between Tuesday's Jiuzhaigou quake and the massive quake of 2008, asserted Zhu Hang, a researcher with the province's earthquake administration.

Ten hours after the Jiuzhaigou temblor, a likewise unrelated 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region near its border with Kazakhstan, injuring at least 32 and leaving more than 1,000 buildings damaged.

No tourists in Jinghe county have been reported injured or killed by the quake thus far, the Xinjiang Tourism Development Commission said.

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Keywords:   Sichuan,Xinjiangm Earthquake