Thousands homeless as China quake wreaks havoc

TENS of thousands of earthquake victims in southwest China were living in tents or in the open yesterday, fearful of returning to their damaged homes a day after a magnitude 6.4 quake killed three and injured at least 300.

Hundreds of aftershocks sent jittery residents scurrying for safety.

“We worry so much about the aftershocks. This morning we had one, and we hid anyplace we could think of,” said Cai Zhongting, who was living with his family in a tent.

The quake struck near China’s border with Laos shortly after 5:30am on Sunday, said China’s official Xinhua News Agency, citing the government’s seismological bureau.

The dead included a four-year-old boy who was sleeping with his mother when the mud walls of their home collapsed, burying them, Xinhua said. The mother was later rescued.

Xinhua, citing a provincial civil affairs spokesman, said 120,000 people had been forced to leave their homes.

About 20,000 to 30,000 of them were living in tents, some marked “disaster relief,” because the earthquake cracked walls in many buildings and made them unsafe to enter, said a man at the Ning’er County Seismological Bureau, who gave only his surname, Ma.

Another official from the seismological bureau, who identified himself as simply Ye, said others were living without shelter because of a shortage of tents. He said more tents were being sent from other areas.

Mr Ma said the local government was providing food and water to displaced residents.

More than 300 aftershocks had been recorded by the local seismic bureau, Xinhua reported, including one with a magnitude of 5.1.

Ning’er lies in a quake-prone mountainous region in Yunnan province about 140km north of Laos.

From 2001 to 2006, Yunnan recorded 27 earthquakes with magnitudes of at least 5.0, Xinhua said.