- A 7.1 magnitude earthquake hits China’s western Xinjiang region, causing injuries to six people and significant damage to over 120 homes.
- The affected area, Uchturpan county, is predominantly inhabited by Uyghurs and is heavily militarized.
- This earthquake is the latest in a series of natural disasters and seismic events in China’s western regions, which have a history of earthquakes.
Additional Coverage:
A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit a remote area of China’s western Xinjiang region early Tuesday. The quake caused injuries to six people and caused significant damage to over 120 homes in freezing temperatures. This earthquake is the latest in a series of natural disasters and seismic events that have struck China’s western regions.
The earthquake occurred in Uchturpan county in Aksu prefecture, shortly after 2 a.m. Approximately 200 rescuers were sent to the epicenter. The county is known as Wushi in Mandarin.
Out of the six people injured, two sustained serious injuries while four had minor injuries. The official Weibo account of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region government reported that 47 houses collapsed, 78 houses were damaged, and some agricultural structures also collapsed.
Although the earthquake caused power lines to be down, electricity was quickly restored according to Aksu authorities. Uchturpan county, a mountainous region, had a population of around 233,000 in 2022.
Train services provided by the Urumqi Railroad Bureau resumed after 7 a.m. following safety checks that found no problems on the train lines. The suspension had affected 23 trains.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.0 and occurred in the seismically active Tian Shan mountain range. This region experienced its largest earthquake in the past century in 1978 with a magnitude of 7.1, about 124 miles north of the recent earthquake.
Multiple aftershocks were recorded, with the strongest measuring 5.3 in magnitude.
The affected rural area is predominantly inhabited by Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group that is predominantly Muslim. This community has been the target of the Chinese government’s campaign of forced assimilation and mass detention. The area is heavily militarized, and state broadcaster CCTV showed paramilitary troops clearing rubble and setting up tents for those displaced.
Uchturpan county is currently experiencing extremely cold temperatures, with the China Meteorological Administration forecasting lows of -18 degrees Celsius (-0.4 degrees Fahrenheit) for this week.
In Yunnan province in southwestern China, rescue workers are still searching for victims in 18 homes buried by a landslide that occurred on Monday in the village of Liangshui. State media reported that the bodies of 20 out of the 47 victims have been recovered, while 24 individuals remain missing. Three survivors were rescued from their homes, which were covered in rocks and mud, amidst freezing cold temperatures and falling snow.
The tremors from Tuesday’s earthquake were felt hundreds of miles away. Residents in Tacheng, located 373 miles from the epicenter, reported feeling their apartment buildings shake. The quake was so strong that Ma Shengyi, a pet shop owner, ran to her bathroom and started crying.
Chandeliers swung, buildings were evacuated, and a media office building near the epicenter shook for a full minute, according to Xinhua News Agency. Videos and photos posted on social media showed residents standing outside bundled in winter jackets. Cracked walls and fallen chunks were also captured in images.
The earthquake was felt across Xinjiang as well as in neighboring countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In the Kazakh capital of Almaty, people left their homes due to the shaking. Classes were suspended in both Xinjiang and Kazakhstan to allow children to recover from the shock.
Videos shared on Telegram showed people in Almaty running down stairs and standing outside in freezing temperatures after feeling strong tremors. Some individuals appeared to have left their homes hastily and were pictured in shorts outside in the cold.
Earthquakes are common in western China, including in provinces such as Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan, as well as the region of Xinjiang and Tibet.
China has experienced devastating earthquakes in the past, such as a 6.2 magnitude quake in Gansu in December that killed 151 people, marking the deadliest earthquake in the country in nine years. The Sichuan earthquake in 2008 claimed the lives of nearly 90,000 people and led to extensive efforts to rebuild using more earthquake-resistant materials, especially in schools and other buildings.