MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

CBC News – “A strong earthquake that shook an arid, hilly farming area in northwest China sparked landslides and destroyed or damaged thousands of brick-and-mud homes Monday, killing at least 75 people and injuring more than 450, the government said.

The quake near the city of Dingxi in Gansu province toppled brick walls and telephone lines, shattered mud-and-tile-roofed houses and sent cascades of dirt and rock down hillsides that blocked roads and slowed rescue efforts by crews trying to reach remote areas.

Hospitals set up aid stations in parking lots to accommodate large numbers of injured, while hundreds of paramilitary People’s Armed Police fanned out to search for victims in the region of terraced farmland where the quake struck about 1,200 kilometres west of Beijing.

‘I saw the bulb hanging from the ceiling start swinging wildly around. I woke my two friends and we ran into the bathroom to hide,’ said arts student Li Jingui, 21, who was on the fourth floor of a school dormitory in Dingxi when the shaking started.

‘After the strongest tremors were over, we were worried that there would be aftershocks so we packed our stuff and ran out into a large clearing,’ Li said in a telephone interview.

In addition to the 75 confirmed dead, there were 14 people missing and 459 injured, the central government’s China Earthquake Administration said…

The government’s earthquake monitoring centre said the initial quake at 7:45 a.m. (23:45 GMT Sunday) was magnitude-6.6 and subsequent tremors included a magnitude-5.6.

The quake was shallow, which can be more destructive. The centre said it struck about 20 kilometres beneath the surface while the Gansu provincial earthquake administration said it was just six kilometres deep. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the magnitude of the initial quake as 5.9 and the depth at 10 kilometres.

Initial measurements of an earthquake can vary widely, especially if different monitoring equipment is used.

Su Wei, leader of a 120-member rescue team from the paramilitary People’s Armed Police, told state broadcaster CCTV that they were on their way to the epicentre, but progress was being slowed by mud and rock slides blocking the road.” Read more.