At least 21 were injured while 126 buildings collapsed after an earthquake measuring 5.5 rattled parts of eastern China early on Sunday morning. The quake occurred near the city of Dezhou, about 300 km (185 miles) south of Beijing, the Chinese capital, at 2.33 am (1833 GMT). According to China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC), a second earthquake struck around 3:02 am, with a magnitude of 3.0, having a depth of 9 kilometres.
According to state media agency China Central Television (CCTV), a level four response was launched by China’s Ministry of Emergency Management. The earthquake also forced China Railway Group to suspend some train operations on routes including the Beijing-Shanghai Railway and Beijing-Kowloon Railway. Pingyuan, located in the central part of Dezhou, has a population of 420,000.
“The tremor was so strong… during the earthquake, my head was shaking on the pillow, I thought I was having a nightmare,” a Chinese netizen posted on Weibo from Shandong’s neighbouring Hebei province.
According to multiple reports, the quake was felt as far away as the cities of Beijing and Tianjin as well as in Shanghai, some 800 kilometres from the epicentre.
