A powerful earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale rocked southern China’s Guangxi region in the early hours of Monday morning, claiming two lives and forcing mass evacuations, according to government media outlets.
The tremor left four additional people with injuries and prompted officials to evacuate more than 7,000 people from Liuzhou city as a safety precaution.
Rescue operations to locate missing residents concluded by noon on Monday when crews successfully recovered the final trapped individual, a 91-year-old man who was discovered in stable health, local officials reported.
Footage broadcast by the government television network CCTV depicted heavy machinery working to remove rubble from the disaster zone. The earthquake brought down no fewer than 13 structures and caused hillside collapses that cut off road access to the affected region, CCTV documented.
Railway operations in the Liuzhou area faced cancellations and scheduling disruptions due to the seismic activity.
While southern China experiences periodic seismic events, the most powerful tremors typically occur in the western mountain regions or eastern areas near Taiwan. The region’s most catastrophic recent earthquake registered 7.9 magnitude and devastated southwestern Sichuan province in 2008, resulting in over 87,000 casualties and disappearances.
