Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 38 in China's Sichuan (Update1)

Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 38 in China's Sichuan (Update1)

By James Peng

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The death toll from a 5.7-magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province at the weekend rose to 38, as authorities sent emergency relief to the southwestern region for tens of thousands of people whose homes were destroyed.

The quake hit near the city of Panzhihua on Aug. 30, killing 32 people in the province, six in neighboring Yunnan province and injuring more than 500, the official Xinhua News Agency reported today.

Sichuan is still rebuilding cities devastated by a 7.9- magnitude earthquake that hit the southwestern province in May, killing 69,226 people and leaving 15 million homeless. It was the nation's deadliest temblor in 32 years.

Authorities are sending 6,500 tents and 20,000 quilts to areas of Sichuan affected by the latest earthquake, and 3,200 tents and 3,000 quilts to Yunnan, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on its Web site today. Rainstorms forecast in the coming week may make relief work more difficult, Xinhua said.

More than 258,000 houses were damaged and 152,000 people were displaced, the ministry said. Seven reservoirs, 22 highways and three bridges were also damaged, Xinhua reported.

In Yunnan, more than 130,000 homes were destroyed, affecting 600,000 people, according to the news agency's report, which cited civil affairs officials in the province.

Rail services on the line from Sichuan's capital, Chengdu, to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, resumed yesterday after suffering some disruptions on Aug. 30, Xinhua said.

Increased Stress

Sichuan has been struck by a number of smaller quakes since May, including two 6.1-magnitude temblors that rocked the region on Aug. 1 and Aug. 5.

The May quake increased stress on faults in and around the Sichuan basin, which may generate ``large aftershocks in the near future,'' according to a study by Tom Parsons of the U.S. Geological Survey published in the journal Nature.

That temblor appears to have ruptured the Beichuan fault, which runs along the edge of the Longmen Shan mountain range, Parsons wrote. Officials need to identify other areas where faults may have been damaged to mitigate destruction from future aftershocks, Parsons wrote.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Peng in Hong Kong at jpeng7@bloomberg.net

September 1, 2008

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aSvofozNPgM4&refer=asia