The death toll from the earthquake that struck China’s Sichuan province on Monday has risen to 74, according to local media on Wednesday.
The rescue headquarters of Ganzi said 40 were killed, 14 were missing, and 170 were injured in Ganzi as of 9 pm (local time) on Tuesday, as per Xinhua News Agency. Expressway tollbooths opened up over 700 special channels for earthquake relief. All service areas along the Chengdu-Luding Expressway have been fully stocked with epidemic prevention supplies, oil products, food materials, and other emergency supplies.
More than 1,900 officers, armed police and soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Western Theater Command rushed to the earthquake-hit area and arrived at the epicentre area at 8 am on Tuesday, engaging in the transport of the injured, road dredging, victim search and other rescue work, Global Times reported.
As a result of the earthquake, the power supply in the province was cut off. However, State Grid Sichuan Electric Power Company said that nearly 22,000 households in the earthquake-stricken area have been restored after overnight emergency repair. Chinese President Xi Jinping requested all-out relief efforts to prioritise saving lives and minimising casualties after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Luding County, Global Times reported.
China’s Red Cross Society has initiated a Level-III emergency response, with the first batch of relief materials consisting of 320 tents, 2,200 relief packages, 1,200 quilts, and 300 folding beds dispatched to the affected area.
The Red Cross has also sent a working group there to help with the relief and rescue work. Sichuan province has activated the second-highest level of emergency response for the earthquake, and more rescue forces are rushing to the epicentre area.