Media reports say a powerful quake jolted China’s Sichuan province on August 8, leaving at least 13 people dead.
Chinese state-owned news agency Xinhua says death toll from a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck a remote area in southwest China's Sichuan province Tuesday night has risen to 13.
As of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, the earthquake had reportedly also left 175 others injured, the information office of the provincial government was cited as saying by Xinhua.
Quoting the US Geological Survey (USGS), The Telegraph News reports an earthquake measuring 6.5 in magnitude struck a remote and mountainous part of the southwestern province of Sichuan on Tuesday, killing 13 people and trapping 100 tourists in a popular scenic spot.
The quake hit a sparsely populated area 200 kilometers west-northwest of the city of Guangyuan at a depth of 10 kilometers, the USGS was quoted as saying.
The Sichuan earthquake administration said the epicenter of the tremor was in Ngawa prefecture, largely populated by ethnic Tibetans, many of whom are nomadic herders. It was also close to the Jiuzhaigou nature reserve, a popular tourist destination.
A local government official reportedly said the death toll had risen from five to 13, with 175 injured. Sichuan's government added that 100 tourists had been trapped by a landslide.
Sichuan government spokesman Chen Weide said it was unclear at present what had happened to them and whether they had been buried or were just trapped by a blocked road, according to The Telegraph News.
Chinese state-owned news agency Xinhua said the reception area in a hotel had collapsed, trapping some people, but that 500 had already been safely evacuated from the building.
Xinhua notes that a French man and a Canadian woman were injured in the Tuesday earthquake. Maxence Vallon, 18, was reportedly wounded in both legs; while the Canadian woman, who declined to be named, suffered slight injury in the head. Both are being treated at the people's hospital of Jiuzhaigou county.
Exact number of casualties of foreign nationals in the disaster is not available yet, according to Xinhua.
