A 5.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Longxi county in Dingxi, Northwest China's Gansu Province at 5:49 am Saturday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC). Photo: CENC

A 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Longxi county in Dingxi, Northwest China's Gansu Province at 5:49 am Saturday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC). The epicenter was monitored at 34.91 degrees north latitude and 104.58 degrees east longitude and the earthquake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers, the CENC said on Saturday.

According to China Central Television (CCTV) News, as of 11:30 on Saturday, the earthquake had damaged 3,505 buildings across 17 townships and villages, most of which were residential homes. Of the damaged buildings, 17 collapsed and 3,488 suffered minor damage. A total of 7,812 people have been urgently relocated and resettled. Eight people were injured, all of whom have been transferred to hospital for treatment. Additionally, 27 sections of road traffic facilities were damaged.

CCTV News cited a local highway management station, which reported that local authorities had deployed 170 people, along with 15 obstacle-clearing machines and transport vehicles to carry out emergency repairs and cleaning work on roads that were damaged or covered with debris. At present, all roads in the earthquake-stricken area have been reopened to traffic and have resumed normal operation.

The China Earthquake Administration (CEA) quickly activated a Level-3 emergency response, requiring relevant units to conduct joint consultations, strengthen earthquake monitoring and post-earthquake trend analysis, and promptly report relevant information. At present, the Gansu local earthquake administration has dispatched an on-site work team to the earthquake-stricken area to assist the local government in carrying out emergency response work, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday. 

Local emergency rescue workers told the Global Times on early Saturday morning that no reports of fatalities have been received so far. Disaster assessment and cleanup work is currently underway. 

A local resident told the Global Times that the county seat is generally safe, but the earthquake was strongly felt.

The Gansu Provincial Fire and Rescue Corps quickly dispatched 280 personnel, 42 fire trucks, and more than 2,000 sets of equipment from Dingxi, Lanzhou, and Tianshui. Forward forces from the Longxi brigade have also been deployed. As of now, there are no reports of collapsed houses or casualties, according to CCTV News. 

CENC data show that within 200 kilometers of the epicenter, 30 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or above have occurred in the past five years. The most powerful was a magnitude 6.2 quake in Jishishan county, Linxia prefecture, on December 18, 2023, about 185 kilometers away.

Global Times