Photo taken on Sept 5, 2022 shows a temporary shelter in Moxi town of Luding county, Southwest China's Sichuan province. (YANG SHU / FOR CHINADAILY.COM.CN)
CHENGDU – Total 66 people have been killed in Monday’s 6.8-magnitude earthquake that jolted Luding County in southwest China's Sichuan province, according to local authorities.
As of 2 pm on Tuesday, 38 people had been killed in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and the other 28 died in the city of Ya'an, the rescue headquarters said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
Four counties and one county-level city in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and two counties in Ya'an reported quake damage.
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Luding county in Ganzi and Shimian county in Ya'an were the hardest-hit areas, with all the 66 deaths, as well as over 50,000 people evacuated to safe places.
Photo taken on Sept 5, 2022 shows people resting at a temporary shelter in Moxi town of Luding county, Southwest China's Sichuan province. (YANG SHU / FOR CHINADAILY.COM.CN)
Fifteen people were missing and 253 were injured, with five in critical condition and 70 in serious condition.
Of the injured, 175 have been sent to hospitals for further treatment and six medical teams are working at the scene of the disaster.
The earthquake struck Luding county at 12:52 pm Monday (Beijing Time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
Sichuan has activated the highest level of emergency response for the earthquake.
UAV sent to support rescue
China's large civil unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Wing Loong-2H has been deployed to support the emergency communications after the earthquake, according to the UAV's developer.
Photo taken on Sept 5, 2022 shows emergency workers preparing the temporary shelter in Moxi town of Luding county, Southwest China's Sichuan province. (YANG SHU / FOR CHINADAILY.COM.CN)
The large UAV flew into the preset mission area at 6:44 pm Monday and started to carry out the survey and emergency communication support, said the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the country's leading planemaker.
It helped establish an airborne communication network and sent real-time images of the quake-hit areas, supporting relief work and ensuring effective rescue operations.
The Wing Loong-2H features multiple attributes such as long range, long endurance, high payload and strong environment adaptability, thus making it possible to serve diverse missions in extreme disaster-hit regions where traffic, power supply and network communications are disrupted, according to the AVIC.