At least 56 dead and 600 injured after a magnitude 7 earthquake in China

At least 56 people were killed and 600 injured in an earthquake of 7 degrees on the Richter scale that rocked the central Chinese province of Sichuan, the same in which an earthquake of a magnitude degree caused nearly 90,000 deaths five. The quake occurred at 8:02 local time (0:02 AM) and shook the region of Lushan, in the municipal area of ​​Yaan, located in the center of the province, at the foot of the eastern boundary of the Tibetan Plateau. The seismic source was located at 30.3 degrees north latitude, 103 degrees east longitude and 13 kilometers deep. More than 2,000 soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army have been sent to the affected area to participate in the rescue and assistance to victims, said the military division of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan. The strong tremor could be felt clearly in that city, located 140 kilometers from Yaan, as well as in other western provinces of the country, within a radius of thousands of miles. A Chengdu resident told Xinhua that from his apartment, located in a thirteenth floor, your home could feel shaking for 20 seconds s, watching falling tiles surrounding buildings. CCTV state television has provided the first images of the affected area, where most of the inhabitants have left their houses and stay on the streets for fear of aftershocks. After the strong initial quake there have been several aftershocks in the area between 4 and 5 degrees. Western China is an area of ​​frequent seismic activity, being in the friction zone of the Indian and Asian tectonic plates. In recent weeks several smaller earthquakes also in western China's Yunnan province have caused dozens injured. The May 12, 2008, an earthquake of 8 degrees with epicenter in Weichuan (northern Sichuan) caused 90,000 deaths and about 375,000 injuries, the worst being suffered by China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake.