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A moderate 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck eastern China during the early hours of Sunday, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). State media has reported that at least 21 people were injured, and numerous buildings have collapsed as a result of the quake.
The quake, which struck at 2:33 am (1833 GMT Saturday), hit 26 kilometres (16 miles) south of the city of Dezhou in Shandong province, at a depth of 10 kilometres, the USGS said.
It was the strongest to hit the province in more than a decade, state-run tabloid the Global Times said.
The quake was felt as far away as Beijing and Tianjin, as well as in Shanghai, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) from the epicentre.
Videos on social media showed shaking light fixtures, trembling ground and people evacuating their buildings, with one clip showing people walking past bricks scattered on the ground.
“The tremor was so strong… during the earthquake my head was shaking on the pillow, I thought I was having a nightmare,” one person posted on social media platform Weibo from Shandong’s neighbouring Hebei province.
USGS’s PAGER system, which provides preliminary assessments on the impact of earthquakes, issued a red alert, estimating extensive damage and some casualties were probable based on previous quake data.
Citing Shandong authorities, state broadcaster CCTV said there were at least 21 injured and that 126 houses or other buildings had “collapsed” from the earthquake, which was followed by 52 aftershocks.
An AFP team on-site observed some cracked walls and scattered bricks near the epicenter of the earthquake in Shandong’s rural and sparsely populated Pingyuan county. However, the damage seemed to be relatively minor.
In one village, local residents actively participated in the cleanup efforts. Notably, a group of four elderly women collaborated to reconstruct a low brick wall in an overgrown yard.
Deng Hongqiang, a 55-year-old resident who lives outside the village, rushed back to support the wall on his uninhabited property after being awakened by the earthquake. “When the tremors started, I was only aware that the ground was shaking, so I hurried outside,” he recounted to AFP.
“There was ‘no way’ to repair his old house in the area, he said. ‘We’ll have to demolish and rebuild.’
‘It’s alarming’ China’s Ministry of Emergency Management has initiated a level-four emergency response and dispatched a team to Shandong province to lead the rescue efforts, as reported by state news agency Xinhua.
Footage from CCTV displayed rescue personnel in red uniforms marching past first aid tents set up on a school athletics field, surrounded by seemingly undamaged buildings.
‘Only specific old dirt buildings that were uninhabited have collapsed,’ CCTV stated, showing scenes of piles of crumbled bricks amid undamaged structures and pieces of exterior walls stripped from a still-standing house.
‘Some yard perimeter walls have also collapsed and been damaged,’ the broadcaster added.
Water and communication infrastructure were reported to be functioning normally in the area, although hundreds of train services were suspended on Sunday morning, according to CCTV.
‘I can’t express anything other than fear,’ another Weibo user commented.
While earthquakes are not uncommon in China, it is rare for them to strike the eastern part of the country, where most of the population and major cities are situated.
An official from the Shandong Seismological Bureau reassured that the possibility of a larger earthquake was ‘very small,’ according to local media.”
