BEIJING, Sept 6, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Rescuers scoured through rubble for
hundreds of missing people in parts of southwestern China on Tuesday after an
earthquake killed more than 60, as local weather services warned rain was set
to inundate the area.

The magnitude 6.6 quake hit about 43 kilometres (26 miles) southeast of the
city of Kangding in Sichuan province at a depth of 10 kilometres on Monday,
according to the US Geological Survey.

At least 65 people were killed, state media reported Tuesday morning, with
more than 200 still trapped in a remote scenic area and scores missing
elsewhere.

Video from state broadcaster CCTV showed firefighters pulling a bruised and
bloodied woman from the rubble and carrying a survivor on a stretcher across
a river on a makeshift bridge as well as damaged buildings and streets strewn
with fallen masonry.

And footage shared by the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) showed
boulders thundering down mountainsides in Luding county, kicking up clouds of
dust as the tremors swayed roadside telephone wires.

At least one town suffered "severe damage" from landslides triggered by the
quake, CCTV reported.

"Before 5 o'clock, I heard a rumbling sound. The house shook so badly that I
woke up immediately," one woman surnamed Zheng from Sichuan's Lu county told
Beijing News.

"My brother's house collapsed. His house is an old one built more than 10
years ago. My house is newly built, so the situation is better."

- 'All-out to rescue people' -

The quake also rocked buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu -- where
millions are confined to their homes under a strict Covid-19 lockdown -- and
in the nearby megacity of Chongqing, local residents told AFP.

At least 10 aftershocks of magnitude 3.0 and above had been detected as of 7
am local time (2300 GMT), CCTV said.

The local meteorological department has said Luding county -- the epicentre
of the quake -- will experience rain for three days, potentially hampering
rescue work.

China's cabinet last night said it has dispatched a special team to lead the
efforts, with CCTV reporting more than 6,500 people had been sent to
emergency rescue.

And President Xi Jinping called for local authorities to "make saving lives
the first priority, go all-out to rescue people in disaster-stricken areas
and minimise loss of life", according to CCTV.

Local officials have launched a public appeal for donations to help with
relief work.

- Quake-prone region -

Earthquakes are fairly common in China, especially in the country's
seismically active southwest.

A smaller magnitude 4.6 tremor hit eastern Tibet less than an hour after the
initial quake, according to the USGS.

A magnitude 8.0 quake in 2008 in Sichuan's Wenchuan county left tens of
thousands dead and caused enormous damage.

In June, at least four people were killed and dozens more injured after two
earthquakes in southwestern China.

That month, a shallow 6.1-magnitude shock hit a sparsely populated area about
100 kilometres west of Chengdu.

It was followed three minutes later by a second quake of magnitude 4.5 in a
nearby county, where the deaths and injuries occurred.

Authorities in Chengdu extended the city's lockdown on Sunday as they fight a
Covid flare-up with hundreds of cases.

The region has also suffered a summer of extreme weather, with a record-
breaking heatwave noticeably drying rivers in Chongqing.