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ACT Alliance Alert
China
Earthquake in Ludian County
Geneva, 4 August 2014
1. Brief description of the emergency and impact
On 3 August 2014, an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter Scale struck Ludian County, Yunnan Province, China at 16:30 local time. Hundreds of aftershocks have since been recorded in the quake zone. Continuous rainfall and landslides in the area are exacerbating the situation.
The Department of Civil Affairs of Yunan Province reported that as at 08:40, 4 August, the earthquake has led to 393 fatalities and 1,801 people injured. There has been serious damage to housing and infrastructure (around 80,000 houses have been totally destroyed and 124,000 damaged to varying degrees) and 229,700 people have been relocated. Although the central government has already dispatched some rehabilitation materials, there is still a huge gap between the needs and what has been provided both for the crisis and post crisis phase.
2. Why is an ACT response needed?
Zhaotong City, at the epicentre of the quake zone is an impoverished and mountainous area. Inadequate local resources and resilience make the people more vulnerable to the quake and secondary disasters.
3. National and international response
Directly following the earthquake, the National Disaster Risk Reduction bureau and the ministry of Civil Affairs initiated a National Grade III Response and sent a 30-man team to the epicentre region along with 2,000 tents, 3,000 folding beds, 3,000 quilts and 3,000 coats to provide shelter for the displaced and homeless. Chinese NGOs have been dispatching relief-staff and mobilizing funds and relief material to the quake areas.
4. ACT Alliance response
Two staff from Amity’s Emergency Response Team (AERT) arrived in Ludian County in the early morning of 4 August and initiated a rapid needs assessment. Other AERT staff are on their way to Zhaotong City in neighbouring Qiaojia County. Amity’s first batch of relief materials (10,000 bottles of drinking water, 5,000 kilos of rice and 600 bottles of cooking oil) are on the way to Ludian County.
5. Planned activities
Based on initial information collected by AERT, the affected people are in most need of food, drinking water and other essentials. Also, taking into consideration the damage caused by the earthquake, rehabilitation and reconstruction are foreseen. An appeal is being planned to assist people with the most limited resources in the affected areas.
6. Constraints
The earthquake has severely affected communications and transportation in the area. Heavy rainfall and landslides are posing a significant challenge in providing emergency relief.
Any funding indication or pledge should be communicated to Jean-Daniel Birmele, Director of Finance (jbi@actalliance.org)
