56 dead, 14 missing in NW China quake

Photo taken with a mobile phone shows a damaged house in quake-hit Meichuan Town of Minxian County, northwest China's Gansu Province, July 22, 2013. (Xinhua/Kang Yapeng).

Fifty-six people have been confirmed dead and another 14 remain missing after an earthquake hit northwest China's Gansu Province on Monday morning, local authorities said.

A total of 412 people were also injured in the 6.6-magnitude quake that jolted the juncture of Minxian County and Zhangxian County in the city of Dingxi at 7:45 a.m., according to the provincial government.

Hard-hit Minxian reported 53 deaths and 14 others missing, while three deaths were reported in Zhangxian and Longnan City's two counties of Lixian and Dangchang.

As of 4 p.m. Monday, 411 aftershocks had been recorded in the quake-hit region, with the strongest measuring 5.6 in magnitude, Chang Zhengguo, spokesman for the provincial government, said at a press conference in the provincial capital of Lanzhou.

An initial investigation showed that the quake had caused the collapse of more than 1,200 houses and severe damage to 21,000 homes, he added.

Xinhua reporters who arrived at the villages in the seriously-hit Meichuan Township, of Minxian County, said many rural buildings had been reduced to ruins and others had cracks in the walls.

A total of 31 people have been confirmed dead in Meichuan, according to rescuers.

Zhu Wenqing, a 40-year-old farmer in Majiagou Village in Meichuan, said his house survived the first quake but eventually collapsed following seven or eight aftershocks.

Villagers said the victims were mainly elderly and children, who failed to escape from collapsing houses.

Communication in many villages in Meichuan Township and in 13 towns of Zhangxian County has been cut off. Power has been cut off in five towns in the eastern part of Minxian County as of 2 p.m..

The epicenter of the quake, with a depth of 20 km, was monitored at 34.5 degrees north latitude and 104.2 degrees east longitude, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.

The earthquake happened at a fault zone in the province, which has recorded 25 earthquakes with a magnitude of over 5.0 throughout history, the China Earthquake Administration said.

The strongest quake recorded around the fault zone was measured with a magnitude of 8.0 on July 21, 1654. That one happened about 121 km from the site of the latest quake, it added.

Locals in Minxian County said the quake on Monday morning lasted for about one minute. Sources with the county government said most of its townships have been affected by the quake.

Armed police, fire fighters and more than 300 local militiamen have been dispatched to the quake-hit region to help with the rescue efforts.

The provincial civil affairs department has sent 500 tents and 2,000 quilts.

Wang Sanyun, secretary of the Gansu provincial committee of the Communist Party of China, and Liu Weiping, governor of Gansu, have arrived at Meichuan to oversee the rescue operation.

The Lanzhou Railway Bureau has initiated an emergency response to guarantee the safety of railway bridges and communication facilities in the province.

Light to heavy rain has been forecast in Dingxi City, according to the provincial meteorological station. This will affect the rescue efforts.

The earthquake was also felt in Tianshui City and Lanzhou as well as the cities of Xi'an, Baoji and Xianyang in neighboring Shaanxi Province.