Earthquake kills 48 in Gansu Province
At least 48 people were killed in northwest China's Gansu Province after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the neighboring Sichuan Province on Monday, local authorities said.
Meanwhile, 16 other people were injured severely and more than 20,000 people were evacuated, according to the Gansu Provincial Department of Civil Affairs.
The powerful earthquake rocked Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province at 2:28 p.m. Monday and more than 7,000 people are feared dead in the province.
The tremor was also strongly felt in many other parts of the country, leading to building collapses, cutoff of water and power supplies, and chaos of transport and communications.
"Stampede accidents have been reported in some schools in Longnan," said Zhang Lixin, a press official of Longnan City of Gansu. He did not provide details about the casualties.
"Classes in those schools have been suspended," he added.
'Thousands dead' after Sichuan earthquake
A major earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province has killed and injured several thousands of people, the national headquarters for disaster relief said on Monday evening.
In neighboring provinces, 57 persons were killed in Shaanxi, 26 in Gansu, 50 in Chongqing, and one in Yunnan.
The casualty calculation was still going on, the headquarters said.
About 3,000 to 5,000 people are feared dead after a major earthquake in the Beichuan County in northeastern Sichuan, and about 10,000 people were injured, the Sichuan provincial disaster relief headquarters said Monday evening.
The officials said 80 percent of the buildings collapsed in the Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County after the quake, northeast of provincial capital Chengdu.
Casualties are being reported from across the Sichuan Province, after an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale shook the area at 2:28 p.m. Monday. The epicenter of the quake was in Wenchuan County, about 159 kilometers northwest of Chengdu.
The Sichuan Provincial Seismological Bureau said about 313 after-shocks measuring up to six degrees on the Richter Scale have been recorded by 5:28 p.m. Monday in the province.
Local authorities said they are struggling to reach Wenchuan, believed to be the worst hit area in the quake. Army stationed in the local areas have sent in helicopters to the quake-hit areas for rescue work.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Chengdu Monday afternoon by plane and was on the way to the quake-hit county of Wenchuan.
Wen called the quake a "major geological disaster", and called for calm, confidence, efficiency, and strong leadership in the face of the disaster.