china earthquake - april 2010

Earthquake in Yushu, China

• On April 14, 2010, residents of China's remote Yushu County, located on the Tibetan plateau, were awoken by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake. In the sparsely populated villages and the larger town of Gyegu, thousands of wood-earth buildings collapsed and many larger structured heavily damaged or destroyed. The region is difficult to reach for the response teams of the Chinese government outside aid groups - lying at an elevation of 3,700m (12,000 ft) and connected by few roads, most of which were damaged in the quake. Chinese state media now says the death toll has risen to 1,144. Rescuers continue to search for survivors as homeless residents work to recover what they can and set up shelter from the freezing overnight temperatures.

April 15, 2010 - Yushu County, Qinghai, China

A rescuer searches for survivors at a collapsed building.

Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of quake demolished building.


The rubble of a collapsed building after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake.


April 16, 2010 – Gyegu, Yushu County, Qinghai, China

Tibetan monks carry a body they dug out from the debris of a collapsed hotel building in the earthquake.

A general view of a town square shows search and rescue operations.


April 16, 2010

Satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows part of Yushu, China, one day after.

Rope and bandages hold together a medics quake-damaged vehicle as he drives through a makeshift hospital at the Yushu Sports Stadium.


A woman, front, rests near her collapsed house while a rescuer leads a dog to search for a missing person.


A dead horse lies among bloodstained rubble.


Rescuers search students at a collapsed school.


A Tibetan monk walks on rubble.


The hand of a Tibetan child killed by the earthquake is seen amongst blankets and clothing used as makeshift shrouds for the bodies of earthquake victims near Gyegu Monastery.


A Tibetan monk stands beside hundreds of dead bodies wrapped in cloth at Gyegu Monastery. The actual death toll from Wednesday's quake is still unclear, but the damage was mainly around Gyegu, where most of Yushu county's 100,000 people reside.


Monks carry bodies, wrapped in cloth, onto a truck for Tibetan burial near the Gyegu Monastery.


In this photo provided by China's Xinhua News Agency, two people search for useful goods on debris of their destroyed house.


Chinese paramilitary policemen look for survivors under the debris of collapsed houses.

April 15, 2010 – Yushu County, Qinghai, China

Injured earthquake survivors wait to board a flight to a safe place for medical treatment, at the Yushu airport.


Medical staff attend to an injured earthquake victim at a hospital after a group of 24 severely injured earthquake survivors were evacuated to Lanzhou, in northwest China's Gansu province.

April 15, 2010 – Lanzhou, Gansu, China

Ambulances are loaded to trailers to transport to Yushu county.

April 16, 2010 - Qinghai, Beijing

A Tibetan man makes phone calls to his relatives at his destroyed house after an earthquake.


A dog sleeps near the Tibetan Buddhist Gyegu Monastery which overlooks the surrounding area. Many bodies have been brought to the monastery for cremation after the recent quake.


Ethnic Tibetans and local residents unload tents from a truck.


A damaged car rests beneath the rubble of a quake-demolished building.


A Tibetan woman is comforted by her friends after rescuers pulled the body of her son from the rubble of a school that had collapsed after an earthquake.


An injured Tibetan is carried by his relatives and residents to a bus which will take him to a safe place for medical treatment.


Angxiuduojie, 31, an ethnic Tibetan man, shows journalists where he and his family escaped from his collapsed house.


Tibetans pull down a wall where they believe survivors may be buried amid the debris of a collapsed hotel building.


Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of quake-demolished building.


The bodies of an ethnic Tibetan woman and her daughter are seen inside a cage, before a traditional burial, amid the debris of collapsed house.


A family rest in their courtyard near collapsed houses.


A woman collects wood in the debris of collapsed houses.


Earthquake survivors cook on a makeshift stove in front of the demolished homes.


A nine-month-old child injured from the earthquake waits to board a flight to Xining city, at the Yushu airport.


THE END

china earthquake - april 2010

News & Politics