11 people dead, 122 injured in China earthquake

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ Eleven people were killed and 122 injured after China’s Sichuan province was hit by two strong earthquakes since Monday night, according to the state media. The first 6.0 magnitude quake shook Changning County of Yibin City at 10:55 pm on Monday (local time) and according to the China Earthquake Centre (CENC), the second tremor of magnitude 5.3 hit the area on Tuesday morning.

The deaths and injuries were reported from across the province. “Two people remain trapped and one of them is in critical condition,” a rescuer told.  Four people have been rescued and sent to a hospital, according to a rescuer in Shuanghe township. People in Yibin said aftershocks were felt in the following half-an-hour of the earthquakes.

“I was resting in my house when the quake struck,” said Chen Hongxia, who lives on the 16th floor of a residential building in Changning County.  “The chandelier and furniture were vigorously shaking, and my family first hid in the toilet and then rushed outside,” Chen said, adding that many of her neighbours rushed to the ground floor.