National

Regional

Taiwan, HK, Macao

Special Coverage

Focus

Society

Profiles

Death toll rises to 40 in SW China quake

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-01 23:17

HUILI - Two more deaths were reported Monday afternoon in Huili County, bringing the death toll from the 6.1-magnitude quake that struck southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces on Saturday to 40, according to local authorities.

More than 8,000 soldiers and military reservists were deployed to help search and rescue efforts.

Related readings: Quake kills 32, injures over 400 22 dead after quake hits Sichuan  New tremor hits China's quake zone  Chengdu shakes off earthquake

Some 2,000 troops, police and firefighters already in the area have rescued more than 130 injured victims from collapsed buildings since the quake struck on Saturday afternoon.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on Monday night that the quake had injured 675 people as of 4 p.m. Monday in the two provinces.

More than 392,000 houses collapsed or were destroyed and about 181,000 people were evacuated. A total of 941,000 people were affected, said the ministry.

The quake jolted Huili and Panzhihua, both in Sichuan, and autonomous prefectures of Chuxiong, Dali, Lijiang and Zhaotong cities, all in Yunnan Province. Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, was also hit.

Most of the fatalities were in Huili, Chuxiong and Panzhihua, which sit on the southern end of the fault line involved in the massive May 12 quake that left more than 69,000 people dead and nearly 18,000 missing.

More than 15,120 tents, 20,000 quilts and 15 million yuan (about US$2.2 million) in aid have been allocated to the quake areas in Sichuan. The Yunnan provincial government will allocate 30 million yuan for quake relief apart from tents and quilts, according to the ministry.