Powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake hits China, killing at least seven people

• The earthquake was the strongest to hit the Sichuan province since 2013
• The epicentre was at the town of Luding at a depth of 16 km, said China
• Tremors were felt in nearby Chengdu, a city of about 21 million people. 

An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 in southwestern Sichuan province in China has killed seven people, state television CCTV reported on Monday.

The quake was the strongest to hit the province since 2013, with the shaking felt hundreds of kilometres away in the cities of Xian and Changsha.

The epicentre was at the town of Luding at a depth of 16 km, the China Earthquake Networks Centre said.

Reports on Monday from Chinese social media website Weibo said tremors were felt in provincial capital Chengdu, a city of about 21 million people.

‘I felt it quite strongly,’ a Chengdu resident surnamed Chen said. ‘Some of my neighbours on the ground floor said they felt it very clearly.’

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck China’s Sichuan on Monday, the strongest to hit the province since 2013

The epicentre was at the town of Luding at a depth of 16km, located in the southwestern Sichuan province of China

A resident of Chongqing said the quake was ‘pretty noticeable’ and shook the lights and furniture in his fifth-floor apartment.

‘I was pretty scared,’ he told AFP, ‘but it didn’t seem to faze people here.’

More than 500 rescue personnel have been dispatched to the epicentre, state broadcaster CGTN reported, adding that ‘several aftershocks have been recorded in nearby areas’.

A smaller Magnitude 4.6 tremor hit eastern Tibet less than an hour after the initial quake, according to the USGS.

Earthquakes are fairly common in China, especially in the country’s seismically active southwest.

An 8.0-magnitude quake in 2008 in Sichuan’s Wenchuan county left tens of thousands dead and caused enormous damage.

A handout shakemap made available by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the location of a 6.6-magnitude earthquake hitting Ludin County, Sichuan Province

At least four people were killed and dozens more injured after two earthquakes in southwestern China in June.

On that occasion, a shallow 6.1-magnitude quake hit a sparsely populated area about 100 kilometres west of Chengdu.

The provincial capital is currently under lockdown after a Covid-19 outbreak saw its residents placed under restrictions.

The region has also suffered a summer of extreme weather, with a record-breaking heat wave noticeably drying rivers in Chongqing.

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