Jishishan County in northwest China’s Gansu province(AFP)
In one of the most devastating earthquakes to hit China in recent years, the death toll has risen to 149, with two people still missing a week after the disaster struck. According to a report by Reuters, the 6.2 magnitude earthquake affected the remote northwestern regions of Gansu and Qinghai, areas known for their significant population of the Hui people, a tight-knit ethnic minority with a distinctive Muslim identity.
The quake’s epicenter, which straddled the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai, brought immense destruction. Gansu province experienced the most severe impact. State media reported that over 200,000 homes were destroyed, and 15,000 were on the verge of collapse, displacing around 145,000 people. The official figures as of December 22 indicate that the quake claimed 117 lives in Gansu alone, leaving 781 injured.
In the neighboring province of Qinghai, west of Gansu, the death toll reached 32, with two individuals still unaccounted for as of the evening of December 25. Local authorities have pointed out that the quake’s shallowness contributed significantly to the severity of the damage. Additionally, the earthquake‘s thrust-type rupture and the soft sedimentary rock prevalent in the region amplified its destructive power.
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A notable aspect of the destruction was the vulnerability of the houses destroyed in the quake. Many of these homes, built in an earlier era, were made from earth-wood or brick-wood structures with load-bearing walls constructed from earth. This construction style left the houses poorly equipped to withstand the tremors, leading to widespread damage and loss of life.
This tragic event underscores the urgency of improving earthquake resistance in rural homes, especially in regions prone to seismic activity.
The recent quake recalls past seismic disasters in China, such as the 2010 magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai, which killed 2,700 people, and the 2013 magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Sichuan, which resulted in over 160 deaths and more than 6,700 injuries.
As recovery efforts continue, this earthquake serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerability of many rural areas in China to natural disasters and the critical need for stronger infrastructure and preparedness measures.
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