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Chinese officials warned of deadly Yunnan quake, took no action
Beijing (AFP) Jul 27, 2006 Chinese authorities failed to take action after being warned about an earthquake that killed at least 22 people last week, a local official and state media said Thursday. The quake, measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, was predicted several days before it hit early Saturday in a mountainous part of Yunnan, a province in southwestern China, local seismologists said. "We accurately forecast the earthquake," an official at the Yunnan Seismological Bureau told AFP by telephone. "But we didn't go public with it since all seismological information is considered confidential and it's up to the provincial authorities to decide whether to release it." According to a report in the Beijing Youth Daily Thursday, the warning of the imminent earthquake was passed on from the provincial government to officials in Zhaotong, the main city in the area were the tremor was to strike. City officials held meetings over two days prior to the quake, but decided to do nothing, the paper said. "The agencies in charge agreed that the quake prediction wasn't all that definite, and in order to avoid panic, they decided not to issue a warning to the public," an unnamed official told the paper. A Zhaotong government official denied the report when contacted by AFP Thursday. "We don't know about this. We didn't receive a forecast," said the official, who declined to be named. At least 22 people were killed in the earthquake with another 106 people injured, a local government official said on Sunday. Xinhua news agency said another 38,000 buildings were damaged by the quake, which shook 13 townships in the region. The report comes at a sensitive time, with Friday the 30th anniversary of a massive earthquake in the north Chinese coal mining city of Tangshan. That quake killed at least 240,000, making it the deadliest of the 20th century. Critics have argued the toll could have been reduced significantly if warnings allegedly issued beforehand had been heeded. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links China News from SinoDaily.com
Cambodian PM thanks China for unconditional aid, urges stronger ties
Phnom Penh (AFP) Jul 26, 2006 Cambodia's premier Wednesday urged stronger ties with China, saying that, unlike Western donors, Beijing continues to give millions in aid without making demands on his impoverished country. |
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