Dozens are reported dead, thousands have been injured

Apr 20, 2013 08:14 GMT  ·  By

This April 20, China's Sichuan province was hit by a major earthquake which killed dozens and injured several thousand people.

Presently, is it believed that 71 people lost their lives during this earthquake, and over 2,000 suffered significant injuries.

According to China's seismological bureau, the earthquake's magnitude was one of 7. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) disagrees and says that it was one of 6.6.

The latter also report that the quake struck at a depth of 12.3 kilometers (7.6 miles).

RT informs us that the earthquake hit fairly close to the city of Ya'an in Lushan County at 8.02 a.m.

The shake was reportedly felt in neighboring provinces as well, hence people's leaving their homes and rushing on the streets.

The city of Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan province, was also affected by the quake.

One individual living in Chengdu reportedly told the press that he felt the quake all the way up to his apartment at the 13th floor. He added that the building shook for about 20 seconds.

Information shared with the public thus far says that the earthquake triggered major landslides and caused several buildings to collapse.

More so given the fact that this earthquake was followed by several aftershocks. The strongest of these aftershocks measured 5.1 in magnitude.

Both phone services and local grids were disrupted, and efforts are now being made to once again get them up and running.

In the aftermath of this shake, 2,000 troops were sent to carry out rescue operations in the area affected by this earthquake.

The area hit by this earthquake is roughly the same as the one struck by a 7.9 magnitude quake back in 2008.

“The preliminary April 20 event location is approximately 85km from the hypocentral location of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake,” USGS says.

At that time, 68,000 people died and countless others were injured.