Earthquake Kills Two, Collapses 13 Buildings In China

A 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck southern China’s Guangxi region in the early hours of Monday, killing two people, leaving one person missing, and causing 13 buildings to collapse, state media reported.

The quake hit Liuzhou city in Guangxi at 12.21 am local time (1621 GMT), according to state news agency Xinhua.

State broadcaster CCTV identified the two deceased as a married couple, a 63 year old man and a 53 year old woman, and confirmed that search and rescue operations for the missing individual were ongoing at the time of reporting.

Authorities evacuated over 7,000 residents from the affected area as emergency response teams moved swiftly to contain the disaster.

Footage published by CCTV showed panicked residents fleeing high rise buildings while heaps of rubble lay beside demolished homes. Rescue workers were seen combing through debris as search dogs attempted to detect signs of life beneath the wreckage. Emergency personnel equipped with helmets were also observed deploying earthmovers to clear collapsed structures.

Earthquakes are relatively common across China given its location along several active seismic fault lines. Last January, a devastating tremor in the remote Tibet region killed at least 126 people and damaged thousands of buildings, underscoring the recurring threat of seismic activity across the country.

Guangxi, located in southern China bordering Vietnam, is among the country’s more densely populated autonomous regions. Monday’s event marks one of the more destructive tremors to strike the area in recent memory, with casualties and structural damage recorded despite the quake registering at a moderate magnitude on the Richter scale.

Rescue operations were continuing as of Monday morning, with authorities yet to confirm whether the missing person had been located.