Yinchuan, Ningxia: Earthquake leads to six slightly injured and 4965 people have been evacuated

On January 2nd, two earthquakes of magnitude 4.8 and 4.6 respectively occurred in Yinchuan City, followed by multiple aftershocks. On the morning of January 4th, the Yinchuan City Earthquake Prevention and Mitigation as well as Earthquake Relief Command Center held a press conference to report on the relevant work.

Dang Cheng, member of the Municipal Standing Committee and Executive Deputy Mayor of Yinchuan City, introduced at the press conference that as of 10:00 pm on January 3rd, the earthquakes had caused slight injuries to six people, all of whom were promptly taken to the hospital for treatment and released. There were no fatalities or collapsed houses in the earthquake.

Dang Cheng mentioned that in terms of transfer and accommodation, the city adhered to the principle of no one staying in dangerous houses, and arranged for a total of 2,139 households and 4,969 people to be transferred. Among them, 321 households and 851 people were placed in centralized accommodation; 168 households and 362 people were accommodated in hotels; 1,650 households and 3,756 people sought shelter with relatives or friends. As of now, 2,138 households and 4,965 people have been transferred, and the remaining 1 household with 4 people were transferred due to a sick elderly person at home; two community workers have been arranged to provide on-site care. A total of 7,250 emergency supplies such as cotton tents, quilts, and cotton-padded jackets were allocated to areas near the epicenter for emergency response.

Dang Cheng also introduced that in response to people staying in cars overnight for safety, the police, community grid workers, and volunteers were organized to knock on windows and provide reminders to prevent other accidents from happening. In terms of disaster situation investigation, professional teams were organized to identify and locate issues such as wall cracks and peeling paint at 7,599 locations, which are currently being handled by various counties and cities, with identification and evaluation in progress. A total of 27 water leaks due to broken water supply pipes were identified and quickly repaired without causing widespread water cuts. The city’s highways, national and provincial roads, rural roads, airports, and railway operations are functioning normally, while the water conservancy facilities such as 23 large and medium-sized reservoirs are in good condition. The city’s transportation, communication, water supply, gas supply, electricity supply and other civilian facilities are operating normally.

Dang Cheng also mentioned that in terms of ensuring road access, at around 5:15 pm on January 2nd, when the traffic flow in Yinchuan urban area increased and traffic pressure increased abruptly, the city immediately launched emergency plans and dispatched all traffic police officers to optimize and improve emergency measures for traffic congestion. By around 8:20 pm, the traffic flow in the urban area gradually decreased. On January 3rd, there were 129,000 vehicles leaving Yinchuan on highways, an increase of 86.1% from January 2nd; there were also 88,600 vehicles entering Yinchuan on highways, an increase of 50.8% from the previous day. Overall, the city’s road traffic order remained stable and orderly.

In the future, Yinchuan City will conduct deep investigations into damage in various fields, conduct assessments of disaster losses and house safety assessments. It will also prepare emergency supplies such as drinking water, food, coal, and quilts while organizing public security, transportation, medical care, militia, firefighting and other emergency rescue forces as well as power supply maintenance teams to be on standby to ensure a quick response to any emergencies with efficient handling.