Despite a significant earthquake that killed at least 65 people in nearby places, authorities in Chengdu, southwest China, have maintained stringent COVID-19 lockdown procedures for the city’s 21 million residents.
online-circulating video After Monday’s 6.8-magnitude earthquake, which was centred in the neighbouring province of Sichuan, footage from Tuesday showed personnel blocking inhabitants of apartment complexes from leaving via closed lobby doors while wearing full safety gear.
The earthquake shook structures in Chengdu and other areas of western China. In the city, there was no recorded damage.
The earthquake occurred in a hilly region of Luding County, which is located 125 miles from Chengdu at the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, where tectonic plates are rubbing against one another.
Even though there have only been a few incidents reported, Chengdu’s lockdown is the strictest since Shanghai, the biggest city in China, was isolated during the summer, which led to unusual in-person and online demonstrations.
In China’s totalitarian Communist political system, which is primarily governed by party chief Xi Jinping, regulations must be strictly followed.
Local leaders are often parachuted in from Beijing with little understanding of the local situation and a solid mandate to carry out Xi’s orders, including Sichuan’s newly appointed province party secretary.
Numerous concerns about food, medicine, and access to healthcare shortages were raised as a result of the relentless and sometimes erratic execution of the Shanghai lockdown.
Little has changed, as seen by the fact that at least one Chengdu area has outlawed even ordering takeaway food and coffee, according to a notice published online.
Since the virus was first discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, China has refused to budge from its strict “zero-COVID” policy of mandatory testing, lockdowns, quarantines, and masking, despite recommendations from the World Health Organization and efforts by the majority of other nations to reopen their borders.
China recorded 1,499 new local infection cases on Tuesday, the majority of them asymptomatic. Sichuan was responsible for 138 of that total.
In the old mountain town of Moxi in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Garze, where 37 people were murdered, the earthquake destroyed structures and cut off electricity.
For the more than 50,000 people being relocated from houses rendered hazardous by the earthquake, tents were set up, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
In Moxi, where majority of the structures are made of wood and brick, state broadcaster CCTV showed rescuers removing a lady who seemed unharmed from a collapsed house.
There were 150 persons reported with injuries of different severity.
On the outskirts of Ya’an city, in nearby Shimian county, 28 other people perished. 16 individuals were reported missing, while 248 people were wounded, mostly in Moxi.
Three of the fatalities were employees of the glacier and woodland natural reserve known as Hailuogou Scenic Area.
Authorities also reported landslides that destroyed houses, disrupted electricity, and left people stuck behind a recently formed lake.
A rural route was closed by one avalanche, and it was littered with stones.
Due to Sichuan’s dependency on hydropower, a hot wave and drought that preceded the earthquake and shutdown caused water shortages and power outages.
A 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Sichuan in 2008 and killed approximately 90,000 people was the worst earthquake to strike China in recent memory.
Outside of Chengdu, the tremor destroyed cities, schools, and rural villages, sparking a multi-year campaign to rebuild with stronger materials.