300 reported dead as quake hits northwest China
On Wednesday, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 hits a remote area of northwestern China.
Reports of damage keep coming in like houses that have collapsed, roads that have been destroyed or blocked by landslides and telecommunications have been interrupted.
"The injured are everywhere in the street, a lot of people are bleeding from head wounds," state Xinhua news agency quoted a local official, identified as Zhuohuaxia, as saying.
More than 85 percent of houses had collapsed near the epicenter of the quake which hit a remote high-altitude region in the northwestern Qinghai province that borders Tibet.
"There is a big crack in the Yushu Hotel, the four-storey meeting hall of the prefecture government has collapsed," the official said.
The China Earthquake Administration placed the magnitude of the quake at 7.1, announcing 300 people were confirmed dead. It said there was widespread damage to local structures in the area, including cracks in a dam.
The USGS reported three aftershocks shook the area shortly right after the quake, with magnitudes of up to 5.8, .
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