BF2S Forums Magnitude 7.9 Earthquake strikes China

CBC wrote:

More than 8,500 people died when a 7.9 -magnitude earthquake struck southwestern China on Monday, trapping adults and children under the rubble of collapsed schools and office buildings, and causing ammonia spills at a chemical plant, the state news agency said.

Xinhua, citing government officials, said 8,533 people died in the Sichuan province alone, while another 10,000 could be injured. In one of the worst-hit areas of Sichuan — Beichuan county — an estimated 80 per cent of buildings were reduced to rubble.

The earthquake, felt as far away as Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam, struck about 100 kilometres northwest of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its website. It hit at 2:28 p.m. local time, when schools were full and office buildings were packed.

More than 200 people died in three other provinces, including Gansu and Yunnan, and in the municipality of Chongqing. No Canadian casualties or injuries have been reported, a Foreign Affairs spokesman said Monday, adding that the Canadian Embassy in Beijing is monitoring the situation and providing assistance to Canadians in the area.

Xinhua said about 900 students were trapped inside a high school in the Juyuan township, and students could be seen trying to climb out from under the rubble of the three-storey building, while others were heard calling for help.

At least four Grade 9 students were confirmed dead, while rescuers pulled 50 people from the debris. It was not immediately clear if they were alive or dead.

Several other schools reportedly collapsed as well, Xinhua said, including five in the Sichuan city of Deyang.

At least one other person was killed when a water tower toppled near the epicentre of the earthquake, Xinhua said, while hundreds of people were buried by rubble when a chemical plant collapsed in the Shifang area of Sichuan. It's feared that 70 tonnes of liquid ammonia leaked at the scene.

A hospital, meanwhile, collapsed in Dujiangyan city, in Sichuan, Xinhua said.