Current:Home > ScamsChina has started erecting temporary housing units after an earthquake destroyed 14,000 homes-LoTradeCoin
China has started erecting temporary housing units after an earthquake destroyed 14,000 homes
View Date:2024-12-23 23:54:30
BEIJING (AP) — Hundreds of temporary one-room housing units were being set up Thursday in northwest China for survivors of an earthquake that destroyed more than 14,000 homes and killed at least 135 people, according to state media reports.
Twelve people remained missing in an area hit by mudslides that inundated two villages, the reports said. Search teams were using excavators to dig out a thick sea of mud that covered roads and encased and blocked entry to buildings.
State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of cranes lifting white, box-like housing units and lining them up in an open field in Meipo, a village in Gansu province. Some 260 had been erected, and the total in the village was expected to reach 500 across nine sites by Friday morning.
The arrival of the prefab units was a sign that many of the more than 87,000 people resettled after the Monday night earthquake may be homeless for some time. Many have been enduring temperatures well below freezing in flimsier tent-like units with blue plastic sheeting on the outside and a quilted cotton lining inside.
The death toll included 113 people in Gansu and another 22 people in neighboring Qinghai province. Nearly 1,000 were reported injured. The magnitude 6.2 quake struck in a mountainous region on the Gansu side of the boundary between the two provinces and about 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) southwest of Beijing, the Chinese capital.
Funerals have been held for the dead, some following the Muslim traditions of much of the population in the affected area.
The mud rose as high as 3 meters (10 feet) in two villages in Qinghai province, leaving only the rooftops of some buildings showing.
Experts quoted by CGTN, the Chinese state broadcaster’s international arm, said the earthquake liquefied underground sediment in the area, where the water table is relatively high. At some point, the muddy sediment burst through the surface and flowed down a usually dry ditch into the villages.
Most of China’s earthquakes strike in the western part of the country, including Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, as well as the Xinjiang region and Tibet. The latest quake was the deadliest one in the country in nine years.
veryGood! (986)
Related
- Stocks soared on news of Trump's election. Bonds sank. Here's why.
- Biden’s support on Capitol Hill hangs in the balance as Democrats meet in private
- Divers exploring ancient shipwreck where human remains were found off Greece discover second wreck, new treasures
- The Biggest Bombshells From Alec Baldwin's Rust Shooting Trial for Involuntary Manslaughter
- Medical King recalls 222,000 adult bed assistance rails after one reported death
- No relief: US cities with lowest air conditioning rates suffer through summer heat
- SpaceX launches Turkey's first domestically-built communications satellite
- Jaguars linebacker Josh Allen reveals why he's changing his name
- USMNT Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal Leg 1 vs. Jamaica: Live stream and TV, rosters
- Joe Bonsall, Oak Ridge Boys singer, dies at 76 from ALS complications
Ranking
- Medical King recalls 222,000 adult bed assistance rails after one reported death
- Dan Hurley contract details as UConn coach signs new six-year, $50 million contract
- Here are the Democratic lawmakers calling for Biden to step aside in the 2024 race
- Republicans move at Trump’s behest to change how they will oppose abortion
- Former Disney Star Skai Jackson Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With Her Boyfriend
- Get 40% Off Charlotte Tilbury, 50% Off Aritzia, 60% Off Adidas, 50% Off Gap Linen Styles & More Deals
- Appeals court orders release of woman whose murder conviction was reversed after 43 years in prison
- Everything Marvel has in the works, from 'Agatha All Along' to 'Deadpool & Wolverine'
Recommendation
-
Bowl projections: SEC teams joins College Football Playoff field
-
New cyberattack targets iPhone Apple IDs. Here's how to protect your data.
-
Support for legal abortion has risen since Supreme Court eliminated protections, AP-NORC poll finds
-
Minnesota trooper charged in crash that killed an 18-year-old
-
2024 'virtually certain' to be warmest year on record, scientists say
-
Dan Hurley contract details as UConn coach signs new six-year, $50 million contract
-
Limited-Edition Mopar 2024 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon makes its grand debut
-
Two sets of siblings die in separate drowning incidents in the Northeast