Published by: World Tibet Network News Monday January 12, 1998

January 12, 1998

BEIJING Thousands of Chinese peasants left homeless in sub-freezing temperatures by an earthquake braced on Monday for aftershocks, and a government seismologist warned that powerful quakes could hit the country again this century.

Chinese soldiers rushed food, coats and tents to devastated farm villages near the Great Wall as the death toll from Saturday's earthquake climbed to 50.

The official Xinhua news agency said Gao Xu, deputy director of the Beijing Seismological Bureau, warned of the possibility of aftershocks measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale.

More than 200 aftershocks have been recorded since Saturday's earthquake, which measured 6.2 on the Richter scale, hit Zhangbei and Shangyi counties in northern Hebei province.

The earthquake has toppled 130,000 mud and brick houses and affected 542,000 people.

Gao also warned of more powerful earthquakes before the turn of the century. "In the next three years, several earthquakes measuring over 7.0 could occur,'' the semi-official China News Service quoted him as saying.

China has recorded eight earthquakes measuring over 7.0 since 1988 in southwestern Yunnan province, northwestern Qinghai and Xinjiang regions, the Himalayan region of Tibet and southeastern Fujian province, it said.

China suffered its worst earthquake in modern history in 1976, when a tremor measuring 7.8 levelled the northern city of Tangshan, killing at least 240,000 people.

Seismologists said the death toll from Saturday's tremor had risen to 50 by Monday. More than 10,000 people were injured, about 1,200 of whom were seriously hurt.

State television on Monday showed People's Liberation Army soldiers loading overcoats and makeshift tents on trucks bound for disaster areas.

The official People's Daily splashed pictures of soldiers clearing rubble and unloading overcoats from a truck for earthquake victims in Dahe village.

The mouthpiece of the Communist Party ran another picture of officials distributing instant noodles to victims.

The China Daily ran on its front page a picture of soldiers helping a peasant in Heidigou village dig out food from his dilapidated house.

Xinhua said the military airlifted 55,000 lb of steamed buns and Chinese pancakes to the disaster area.

China's state-owned National Petrochemical Corp said the tremor did not damage its two oil refineries in Hebei province.

Beijing Datang Power Generation Co Ltd said the earthquake did not damage its two power plants in Hebei.

Chinese officials said there was no damage to the 3,750-mile Great Wall, southeast of the epicentre of the earthquake. The 2,200-year-old wall, crumbling in many sections, runs the entire length of north China and was built centuries ago to keep out invaders.

Witnesses described the region as a barren moonscape of frozen snow and rocky fields with few barriers to the harsh winds sweeping down from nearby Inner Mongolia.

Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto cabled his Chinese counterpart, Li Peng, to offer his sympathies, Xinhua said.

Japan's Red Cross Society has donated 10,000 blankets to earthquake victims, officials said.