Relief convoys reach worst-hit villages after Xizang quake

Rescue forces and relief convoys have arrived in Maru Township, the earthquake center of southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, since the early hours of Friday, after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Thursday night.

The quake hit Baqen County in Nagqu City, Xizang, at 22:33 Thursday (Beijing Time) at a depth of 10 km, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

The epicenter is in a pastoral area far from the county center. Base stations in the county were not significantly affected and local telecommunication services have returned to normal by Friday morning, according to the Information and Communications Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The earthquake damaged roads and buildings in the township, which sits at an altitude of about 4,900 meters, according to CMG reporter Gu Junling, who reached Maru by 08:30 Friday.

"The ground here has cracked open with a fissure wider than my palm. With a camera close-up, you can see the depth is at least more than 20 centimeters," Gu shared after reaching the township.

Emergency vehicles and convoys carrying relief supplies are advancing toward the villages worst hit by the quake, which are at higher altitudes, according to Gu.

The Xizang fire and rescue force has mobilized 347 rescuers, 82 fire trucks, and 15 search-and-rescue dogs, heading to the scene with equipment and support supplies right after the quake, according to the Nagqu City Fire and Rescue Detachment.

An officer from the Nagqu detachment said that the Baqen Brigade's vanguard team, with two vehicles and 13 personnel, arrived at one of the worst-hit villages of Maru Township at 01:50, and three vehicles and 15 personnel from the fire and rescue detachment from neighboring Sog County arrived at Gangqie Township, neighboring Maru, another quake-hit area, at 02:20. Emergency crews carried out search-and-rescue, tent erection, and communications support operations at the sites.

As of Friday morning, 30 vehicles, 141 people, and four search-and-rescue dogs had arrived at the scene, while follow-up reinforcements were still on the way, the officer said.

Relief convoys reach worst-hit villages after Xizang quake

China's shipbuilding industry maintained its leading position in the world across the three major indicators in the first nine months this year, according to data released on Friday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

From January to September, the country's shipbuilding output reached 58.05 million deadweight tonnes (DWT), up 50.7 percent year on year and accounting for 63.6 percent of the global total, the data showed.

New orders totaled 175.29 million DWT during the period, surging 163.2 percent from a year earlier and representing 81.8 percent of the global market share.

As of the end of September, the sector's holding orders stood at 399.13 million DWT, up 64.8 percent year on year. This volume accounted for 72.4 percent of the global total.

The proportion of China's new orders of green energy-powered ships reached 74.1 percent of the global total, up 5.7 percentage points compared with the January-June period.

"China has received over two thirds of the world's new orders of green energy-powered ships this year. In fact, the volume of new orders of green energy-powered ships received by China in the first half of the year already exceeded that of the whole of last year. The sector's economic benefits will rise significantly, and may even surpass the historical peak. That will make a positive contribution to the growth of the industrial economy," said Li Yanqing, vice chairman of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry.

China's shipbuilding maintains leading position in Jan-Sept: ministry data