Archive for the ‘quake’ Category
CHINO HILLS, California (Reuters) – Living in the shadow of Los Angeles, retiree Doug Sparkes thought that Tuesday’s strong tremor had squarely hit the big city.
Little did he know his town of Chino Hills, where he and his wife live on a farm with horses and chickens, was the epicentre of the biggest earthquake to hit the Los Angeles area in nearly 15 years.
“The first thing we thought was that L.A. went down and we were on the other end of it,” Sparkes said as he shopped at a supermarket a few hours after the magnitude 5.4 quake. “It was a hard shake and it lasted about 30 seconds.”
The Sparkes had been through stronger Southern California temblors, the 1994 Northridge and the 1987 Whittier Narrows quakes.
“This felt double that,” said Debbie Sparkes. The centres of those quakes were much farther from Sparkes’ home, though.
Around 30 miles (48 km) east of Los Angeles and home to 80,000 people, Chino Hills is a pleasant suburb with new large homes built among the big rolling hills.
The town returned to normality just a few hours after the temblor and filled up with people shopping and eating out. Only the presence of police, emergency teams and reporters indicated something big had happened.
The Wal-Mart store where some bottles fell off the shelves was back open for business in a few hours, after inspectors made sure nothing would fall and hurt customers. Continued…
The death toll from the earthquake in China’s Sichuan province has increased to more than 51,000, with another 30,000 people missing.
Officials revised the figure as they made a renewed international appeal for 3.3m tents for survivors of the quake.
Three days of national mourning for victims of the 12 May disaster has now come to an end.
The Olympic torch relay has resumed, but organisers said the Sichuan leg would be delayed because of the quake.
New town planned
A Chinese government spokesman said on Thursday that the death toll in last week’s quake had now reached 51,151, with 29,328 missing and nearly 300,000 injured.
The official death toll on Wednesday was around the 41,000 mark.
The torch relay resumed in Ningbo on Thursday
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Chinese officials say one of the towns worst affected by the earthquake – Beichuan – will be rebuilt on a completely new site.
State media say the location has not yet been decided but is likely to be about 20km (12 miles) from the current town, where 70% of buildings were destroyed.
The 7.9 magnitude quake left some 5m people homeless, with many still sheltering in the open under makeshift tarpaulins more than 10 days after the disaster.
China’s leaders have promised a 70bn yuan ($10 bn; £5bn) reconstruction fund.
Officials have warned that any corrupt practices linked to relief supplies for the quake will be severely punished.
Both domestic and international aid has been flowing into the earthquake zone, with supply planes landing from countries including the US, Russia and Singapore.
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A massive search and rescue operation is under way in south-western China after one of the most powerful earthquakes in decades.
Troops have arrived in Wenchuan county at the epicentre, which was largely cut off by the quake – but heavy rain is hampering rescue operations.
Elsewhere in Sichuan province, frantic efforts are being made to reach thousands of people under the rubble.
The death toll is now more than 12,000, officials say, and looks set to rise.
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In one city, Mianyang, near the epicentre, more than 18,000 people are said to be buried under the rubble and 3,629 have been confirmed dead, state news agency Xinhua reports.
In the nearby town of Mianzhu, at least 4,800 people are trapped under the rubble and massive landslides have buried roads to outlying villages, Xinhua says.
Premier Wen Jiabao was quick to reach the scene and urged rescuers to clear roads into the worst-hit areas as fast as possible.
“As long as there is even a little hope, we will redouble our efforts 100 times and will never relax our efforts,” he told crying locals through a loudhailer in the badly hit Dujiangyan city, south-east of the epicentre.
The health ministry has made an urgent appeal for people to give blood to help the injured.
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