Medical workers take care of Yang Yan, a 20-year-old woman, in childbirth in a tent functioned as temporary hospital in quake-hit Taiping Township of Lushan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, April 23, 2013. Yang's son was born later, and both mother and baby were fine. Yang and her husband Chen Wei arrived at the hospital in the early morning on Tuesday, after taking a long journey for over three hours from their home in Xingmin Village of the Taiping Township. This was the fourth day after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Lushan County on April 20. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng) |
An earthquake reaching 7.0 on the Richter Scale hit Lushan county of Ya'an city in southwest China's Sichuan Province, on April 20, 2013.
The epicenter, identified at a depth of 13 km, was traced to latitude 30.3 degrees north and longitude 103.0 degrees east.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged that information on the disaster should be obtained as quickly as possible, and that every possible effort should be made to rescue victims. Rescue work should be carried out with care in order to reduce casualties to a minimum.
He also asked that seismic monitoring be strengthened, that concrete steps be taken to prevent secondary disasters, that people affected by the disaster should be properly relocated, and that social stability be maintained in the quake zone. The disaster caused severe losses in affected areas, and Xi ordered troops in the quake-hit zone to make "every possible rescue effort".
The State Council launched a first-grade emergency response to the earthquake, and the emergency teams of ministries, armed forces and armed police all headed to the quake zone.
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