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China: Over 40 dead following earthquake in Sichuan province

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck China’s Sichuan province on Monday, the strongest to hit the region since 2017, killing more than 40 people and shaking the provincial capital of Chengdu and more distant provinces.

Forty-six people were killed in the quake, Chinese state media Xinhua reported, citing local authorities at a press briefing. Some roads and homes near the epicentre were damaged by landslides, while communications were down in at least one area.

No damage to dams and hydropower stations within 50 km (31 miles) of the epicentre was reported, although damage to the provincial grid had affected power to about 40,000 end-users.

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck China's Sichuan province.

This scary moment caught on Dashcam. #China #Sichuan #earthquake pic.twitter.com/RPX1b1CBuB

— Jay in Shanghai 电动 Jay (@JayinShanghai) September 5, 2022
Earthquakes are common in the southwestern province of Sichuan, especially in its mountains in the west, a tectonically active area along the eastern boundary of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

Video clips on social media showed lights swinging while people rushed out of buildings into the streets. A total of 39,000 people live within 20 km of the epicentre and 1.55 million within 100 km, according to state television.

The quake was Sichuan’s biggest since August 2017, when one of magnitude 7.0 hit the Aba prefecture.

The most powerful Sichuan earthquake on record was in May 2008, when a magnitude 8.0 quake centred in Wenchuan killed almost 70,000 people and caused extensive damage.

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