According to reports, the victims are concentrated in Ya’an city and in a mountainous area in Luding county, where the magnitude 6.8 quake occurred just a week ago with an epicenter of 16 kilometers deep and multiple aftershocks.

In those places, around 50,000 people are relocated to shelters, while works continue to restore traffic on blocked roads and telecommunications, water, gas, and electricity services.

The Government spent 21.7 million dollars on disaster relief and to support search and rescue operations, which are being carried out amid fears that torrential downpours could cause landslides, overflowing rivers, and floods.

Sichuan is regularly hit by severe earthquakes, one of which left 87,000 dead and thousands missing in 2008, therefore it was defined as China’s worst earthquake in recent years.

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