Powerful Earthquake Rocks China’s West After Landslides Kill Christians

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BEIJING/MANILA (Worthy News) – A 7.1 earthquake struck a remote part of China’s western Xinjiang region after deadly landslides buried dozens in China and in the Philippines, including praying Christians, officials said.

Authorities said the quake rocked Wushu county in Aksu prefecture shortly after 2 a.m. local time, causing some houses to collapse. About 200 rescue workers were sent to the epicenter, though there were no immediate reports of causalities, state media reported.

Earlier in the day, at least nine people died in a mountainous region of China on Monday following a landslide that buried 47 people in more than a dozen homes, officials said.

Video and images showed first responders combing through debris in the village of Liangshui in southwestern China, hoping to find survivors.

The disaster struck just before 6 a.m. in the village of Liangshui in the northeastern part of Yunnan province. By evening, nine bodies were retrieved, and about 500 people were evacuated from the area, but crews still tried to find victims buried in some 18 homes, Worthy News monitored.

Across the South China Sea, residents faced the aftermath of a landslide that buried a house in the southern Philippines where Christians held a prayer service, killing at least 10 people, including five children, officials said.

PRAYING IN HOUSE

Two people were injured, and at least one more villager remained unaccounted for following last week’s landslide in the remote mountain village in the gold-mining town of Monkayo in Davao de Oro province, said Ednar Dayanghirang, regional chief of the government’s Office of Civil Defense.

“They were praying in the house when the landslide hit,” Dayanghirang told The Associated Press news agency. “It’s sad, but it’s the reality on the ground.”

Three more bodies were reportedly found Friday after the search was paused mid-afternoon Thursday due to the risk of another landslide

People living near the village were ordered to evacuate due to fears of more land- and mud-slides due to intermittent downpours, Monkayo Mayor Manuel Zamora said.

Days of heavy rains also flooded low-lying villages and displaced more than 36,000 people in Davao de Oro and three other provinces, the Office of Civil Defense added.

The disaster followed days of rains sparked by what local forecasters call a shear line, a point where warm and cold air meet.

NATURAL DISASTERS

At least 20 storms and typhoons lash the Philippine archipelago each year, especially during the rainy season that starts in June, according to experts.

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest to hit on record, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages, swept ships inland, and displaced more than 5 million in the central Philippines

Areas of the Philippines and China are prone to natural disasters, including landslides and earthquakes.

Back in China, Monday’s quake was felt hundreds of kilometers (miles) away, Worthy News monitored. Ma Shengyi, a 30-year-old pet shop owner living in Tacheng, 600 kilometers (373 miles) from the epicenter, told the media her dogs started barking before she felt her apartment building shudder.

The quake was so intense her neighbors ran downstairs. Ma rushed to her bathroom and began crying. “There’s no point in running away if it’s a big earthquake,” Ma said. “I was scared to death.”

Yet rescue workers in China didn’t give up hope yet to find more survivors.

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