BGR report
April 14, 2010
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Southern Baptist disaster relief specialists are mobilizing to assess needs in western China's Qinghai province after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake and several strong aftershocks flattened houses made of mud and wood April 14.
At least 400 people were killed and more than 10,000 injured in the area, according to initial news reports. Police used shovels to dig through the rubble in one town because excavation equipment was not available, the Associated Press reported. Crews worked to repair a damaged road to the airport so equipment and rescue teams could reach the area. The AP also reported that hospitals were overwhelmed and doctors were in short supply.
Students reportedly were trapped inside several collapsed school buildings.
Southern Baptists' disaster relief coordinator for the region is working to get an assessment team into the area, said Jeff Palmer, executive director of Baptist Global Response.
"The person we are working with has experience from the Sichuan earthquake two years ago and will be able to give us some good feedback," Palmer said. "Initial reports are that the quake was pretty bad, but it did occur in a fairly sparsely populated area."
Qinghai province is located in western China, near the border with Tibet, and foreigners usually are not permitted to travel there by the government. Disaster response also would be hampered by the difficulty of reaching the remote area.
"News reports indicate the Chinese government and military are responding," Palmer said. "They were very efficient in responding to the massive disaster in Sichuan."
The quake struck along the same fault line that caused the magnitude-7.9 Sichuan quake two years ago. About 90,000 people were dead or missing after that disaster.
The AP reported the provincial government was rushing 5,000 tents and 100,000 coats and blankets to the mountainous region, where temperatures plunge below freezing at night. Workers were racing to release pressure on a dam that had cracked during the quake.
Even if Southern Baptist specialists from the United States are unable to travel to the site of this new quake, "we’ll keep monitoring the situation and see if we can send some resources that can be utilized through on-ground contacts in Qinghai," Palmer said.
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