Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for all-out efforts to rapidly organize relief work and rescue the injured people after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Southwest China's Sichuan province and a 6.6-magnitute earthquake in Jinghe County of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Authorities should check the impact of the earthquake, evacuate and settle visitors and local people, and reduce death and injuries as much as possible, Xi said.
Premier Li Keqiang also urged local authorities to go all out in relief and monitoring work.
China's cabinet, the State Council, has sent a national work team to the disaster-hit area to guide relief work. Local governments have activated top-level emergency response procedures.
The China Earthquake Administration has activated level-I emergency response procedures following a 7.0-magnitude earthquake Tuesday in Jiuzhaigou County in southwest China's Sichuan Province. China has a four-level earthquake emergency response system, with level-I being the top.
At least six tourists were among the 19 people killed and 263 were injured when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck China's southwest Sichuan province at 9:19 pm on Tuesday.
45000 people have been evacuated to places of safety from the quake zone while some 1000 individual tourists are still stranded in Jiuzhaigou， waiting for their chance to be evacuated, local media reported.
1904 tourists organized by 93 travel agencies in Jiangsu were visiting the Jiuzhaigou scenic area when the quake jolted. One tourist suffered slight injury and four tourists are temporarily unaccounted for.
tuniu.com and ly.com, two major online travel operators in Jiangsu, arranged for 5647 tourists to visit Jiuzhaigou and 717 of them are from Jiangsu. No casualties have been reported so far.
China Earthquake Networks Center said the epicenter was at a depth of 20 kilometers close to Jiuzhaigou in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture.
It was monitored at 33.2 degrees north latitude and 103.82 degrees east longitude. Aftershocks continued to shake the affected area.
The Earthquake Administration has launched the second level of its four-tiered emergency response system, and dispatched officers to the region to deal with emergencies.
The armed police in Jiuzhaigou have reached the epicenter to keep order, said the Armed Police Force's Sichuan Provincial Corps. Other forces around the area have been also standing by, aiming to help rescuers.
The PLA Daily reported the epicenter is nearly 60 kilometers far away from the downtown of Jiuzhaigou, and telecommunication were temporarily disrupted.
Jiuzhaigou is a national park known for spectacular waterfalls and karst formations. Each year, millions of tourists visit the park and surrounding areas.
Work teams have been sent to the stricken area to carry out emergency operations, the China Earthquake Administration said in a statement. Four rescuers from Jiangsu Seismological Bureau are heading for the quake zone upon their arrival in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.
The Red Cross Society of China has also launched its emergency response procedures, sending 1,000 first aid kits, 2,000 quilts and 200 tents to the area.
The Chinese Red Cross Foundation has sent work teams to verify the casualties and damage, and has allocated 100,000 yuan for emergency aid.
The Nanjing-based Amity Foundation, an independent voluntary organization, has sent over two workers to Sichuan to evaluate the situations in the quake zone.
In the meantime, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake jolted Jinghe County in Bortala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Xinjiang at 7:27 a.m. Wednesday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
The epicenter was monitored at 44.27 degrees north latitude and 82.89 degrees east longitude.
32 people were injured and two were suffering from severe injuries, the local media reported.
The quake struck at a depth of 11 km, the center said in a statement.
Residents in the regional capital of Urumqi, cities of Karamay and Yining, some 400 km to 200 km away from Jinghe, felt strong tremors.
Most people in Urumqi were sleeping when the quake occurred. The shuddering jolt that lasted about 20 seconds woke many up.
Northwest Xinjiang's Jinghe County has a population of about 140,000.
