A 5.2-magnitude earthquake hits Liuzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on May 18, 2026. Photo: CCTV News

Two trapped people were confirmed dead, and a 91-year-old man was rescued after a 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck Liuzhou in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday. A total of 10,000 disaster relief items have been allocated to support emergency response and disaster relief efforts against earthquakes and floods in Guangxi, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The quake hit Liunan district at 0:21 am at a depth of eight kilometers, Xinhua reported, citing the China Earthquake Networks Center.

The office of China's national commission for disaster prevention, reduction and relief and the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEE), together with the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, has urgently dispatched a total of 10,000 pieces of central disaster relief supplies including tents, folding beds, summer quilts, towel blankets and folding tables and chairs to Guangxi, to help local authorities properly arrange emergency sheltering, evacuation and resettlement of affected people and advance disaster relief work, Xinhua said.

According to the Liuzhou earthquake relief headquarters, as of 4 am on Monday, 13 buildings collapsed, four people were sent to hospital with no life-threatening injuries, and over 7,000 residents were relocated due to the earthquake. Communications, power supply, water supply, gas supply and roads in the quake-hit areas are all operating normally, China Central Television News reported.

The office of the State Council earthquake relief headquarters and the MEE activated a Level-IV emergency response on Monday and sent a work team to support local earthquake relief efforts. A total of 51 fire and rescue vehicles and 315 personnel had been dispatched to the quake-hit area.

The China Earthquake Administration also activated a Level-III emergency response after the earthquake, with relevant officials coordinating emergency response efforts. They held video conferences with the CENC and the Guangxi earthquake administration, urging relevant departments to intensify seismic monitoring, conduct regular situation analyses, keep abreast of on-site disaster conditions and submit timely updates.

A video released by Liuzhou fire and rescue brigade showed that rescuers are searching for the missing people with life detectors, search and rescue dogs, drones and heavy machinery.

A resident surnamed Wu shared home surveillance footage on Chinese social platform RedNote, where the timestamp marked 00:21 on Monday showed her cat was asleep until abrupt earthquake tremors struck, causing the cat to glance around nervously. Wu told the Global Times on Monday that "Though the quake only lasted a few seconds, the swaying felt very noticeable because I live on a high floor."

Another resident surnamed Qin told the Global Times on Monday that although she was in Nanning at the time of the earthquake, she still felt obvious tremors. After learning an earthquake had struck Liuzhou, she immediately called her family there to check on their safety, and later checked surveillance footage to realize how intense the ground shaking had been.

Wang Tun, an expert specialized in natural disaster studies and head of the Sichuan-based Institute of Care-life, told the Global Times on Monday that the earthquake is classified as a moderately strong earthquake. Since Guangxi sits on the periphery of the North-South Seismic Belt, earthquakes measuring magnitude 5.0 and above are relatively infrequent here.

Many netizens voiced their wishes for safety across social media. One user posted on RedNote, "Against the power of natural disasters, humanity feels powerless. May we all stay safe and sound."