Over 10,000 residents have been relocated to safe areas as multi-party rescue and relief efforts got underway after two consecutive 5.2-magnitude earthquakes hit Liuzhou, a city in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Monday.
According to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC), the two 5.2-magnitude earthquakes -- the first striking at 0:21 on Monday, leaving two dead, and the second hitting at 21:44 the same day -- both had their epicenters in Liunan District, just one kilometer apart.
Right after the quakes, Guangxi's regional earthquake relief headquarters activated its emergency response and quickly coordinated efforts among emergency management, firefighting, and public security departments to search for survivors and evacuate residents.
"We rushed to the quake-hit area as soon as possible to assess whether any building collapsed or was damaged, and whether anyone was trapped or injured. After arrival, we saw falling rocks, collapsed slopes, and cracks in building walls," said Li Gaofeng, director of the Liuzhou Earthquake Monitoring Center.
As of now, 99 temporary shelters have been set up in the affected area, housing more than 4,000 people. Another 7,000 residents have been relocated to safe zones. Emergency response authorities are continuously monitoring seismic activity and conducting assessments for potential follow-up actions.
At a shelter in Taiyangcun Town, one of the hardest-hit areas, more than 1,200 residents have been accommodated. Supplies including folding beds, bedding, hot meals, and drinking water are all available.
Local electricity departments ensured power supply at the shelters and set up service points for phone charging.
In Shangdeng Village of Taiyangcun Town, firefighters and other emergency rescue teams are working intensively with the help of excavators as multiple buildings collapsed during the two quakes.
In Taiyangcun Community, also in Taiyangcun Town, the quake caused the road surface to collapse, leaving a pit up to three meters deep at its deepest point. A large excavator was deployed to repair the road before restoring traffic.
The Red Cross Society of China has activated its emergency response and urgently dispatched 2,000 units of relief supplies to the disaster region, including family kits, folding beds, and jumper jackets.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Red Cross Foundation, the Red Cross Society of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the local Red Cross chapters in affected areas sent tents, emergency family survival kits, blankets, milk, drinking water, and other supplies to support evacuations and basic living needs.
Both quakes struck at a depth of nearly eight kilometers, making them shallow-focus earthquakes which transmitted tremors almost directly to the surface with very little energy loss, said Li Gaofeng, director of a local earthquake emergency monitoring center of Liuzhou City. He added the shaking and damage were far more severe than that of deeper quakes of the same magnitude -- making this the most damaging event among recent earthquakes of similar strength in Guangxi.
The impact of Monday evening's earthquake was felt far and wide, with residents across multiple areas in Guangdong and Guangxi reporting strong tremors.
Over 10,000 relocated after 5.2-magnitude earthquake hits Guangxi
