Twelve people are dead and another 125 injured after a series of earthquakes shook southwestern China’s Sichuan province, according to updated figures from the country’s Ministry of Emergency Management.
The new death toll, announced at around 9 a.m. Tuesday, follows a magnitude 6 quake that hit Changning County late Monday night. By 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sichuan’s provincial earthquake administration had recorded 70 aftershocks with magnitudes greater than 2 in the region, including one that measured 5.3. More than 2,000 rescue workers have already arrived in the affected region and over 1,200 others are on the way, state media reported.
Sichuan has a long history of seismic activity. In 2008, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the province, leaving 80,000 dead or missing and 375,000 injured. Earlier this year, Rong County — located about 100 kilometers away from Changning — suspended shale gas extraction after three earthquakes killed two people and caused 14 million yuan ($2.1 million) in damages.
(Image: VCG)
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