氷点下の被災地、仮設テントで一夜　中国

【積石山（中国）ＡＦＰ＝時事】中国・甘粛省で起きた地震の被災者は２０日、気温が氷点下に下がる中、仮設テントで身を寄せ合って一夜を過ごした。（写真は、中国・甘粛省臨夏回族自治州の積石山パオアン族・トンシャン族・サラール族自治県で、仮設テントに座る被災者）
　国営中国中央テレビによると、１８日夜に発生した地震による死者は甘粛省と青海省合わせて少なくとも１３４人に上る。国営新華社通信は、両省で１０００人近くが負傷、２０日午後４時時点で青海省で少なくとも１３人が行方不明となっていると報じた。
　今回の地震は２０１４年に６００人以上が死亡した雲南省での地震以来、最悪規模とされる。
　震源地に近い、甘粛省臨夏回族自治州の積石山パオアン族・トンシャン族・サラール族自治県のモスクの外では、木の棒や防水シートでつくられた仮設テントに人々が避難していた。気温が下がる中、暖を取る手段は自宅から持ち出したストーブや毛布のみだ。
　ある女性はＡＦＰに対し、自宅内部のレンガやタイルがいつ剥がれてもおかしくない状況で、家族は皆、怖くて家には戻れないと話した。
　別の地区では、地元政府がバスケットコートに設置した大規模テントに置かれたストーブの周りに住民が集まっていた。
　ある住民は、３５人が収容されているテントもあると語った。「８人家族なのに、（救急隊は）昨晩は３人分のインスタント麺しかくれなかった」と話した。
　子どもたちは毛布に潜り込み、携帯電話をいじっていた。一方、大人は、配布された限りある食材を使って食事の準備をしていた。
　ＡＦＰは救助隊がテントなど大量の支援物資を降ろしているのを目撃した。
　別の地区では、モスクの前で食料や支援物資が配られており、人々が列をなしていた。モスクの屋根材は地震の影響でほぼ全壊していた。
　モスクの隣には、１５０張り以上のテントが設置されていた。現場の当局者によると、１張りにつき１家族が割り当てられている。
　米地質調査所によれば、地震発生は１８日午後１１時５９分で、マグニチュード（Ｍ）は５．９。震源地は甘粛省の省都、蘭州の南西約１００キロの地点で、青海省との省境近く。震源の深さは浅かった。
　当局は、数日間はマグニチュード５以上の余震の恐れがあるとしている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/12/22-16:10）

Survivors of China's deadliest earthquake in years huddled in makeshift aid tents despite freezing temperatures on Wednesday, too scared to return to homes made dangerous by the disaster.
State broadcaster CCTV said at least 134 people were killed in northwestern Gansu province and neighbouring Qinghai after a shallow tremor on Monday night damaged thousands of buildings.
Almost 1,000 were injured across the two provinces, according to state news agency Xinhua, while CCTV said 13 were still missing in Qinghai as of 4:00 pm (0800 GMT) Wednesday.
The quake was China's deadliest since 2014, when more than 600 people were killed in southwestern Yunnan province.
AFP reporters saw families sheltering in makeshift tents built from wooden poles and tarpaulins outside the Majiahe mosque near the epicentre in Gansu's Jishishan county, with outdoor stoves and blankets salvaged from homes their only sources of warmth.
A woman taking refuge in one of the tents outside the mosque told AFP her family was afraid to return home.
We can't get inside anymore, it's too dangerous, she said, declining to give her name. All the bricks and tiles inside could fall down at any time.
Residents crowded around stoves in large tents set up on a basketball court by the local government in a nearby township.
One resident told AFP some tents had as many as 35 people huddled inside them.
We have eight people in our family but (emergency response staff) only gave us three servings of instant noodles last night, local student Ma told AFP.
There is nothing we can do. We can't go back to our house now, she said.
Children lay under blankets, playing on their phones, while adults attempted to prepare meals from the limited food rations.
AFP saw rescue teams unloading large bundles of supplies, including more tents.
In another nearby town, people were seen queuing up for food and supplies beneath a large mosque, its roof panels almost entirely knocked down by the tremor.
Next to the damaged mosque were more than 150 blue emergency tents, each allocated to one family, an official at the scene told AFP.
- Dozens of aftershocks -
Nearly a thousand people who were injured have been sent to hospitals, with 87,000 people moved to temporary shelters in Gansu alone, CCTV said.
China's western hinterland carries the scars of frequent seismic activity. A huge quake in Sichuan province in 2008 left more than 87,000 people dead or missing, including 5,335 schoolchildren.
Search and rescue work basically ended by 3:00 pm yesterday and the main work now is to treat the injured and resettle the affected population, an unidentified official from Gansu's Emergency Management Department told a news conference on Wednesday.
The US Geological Survey said Monday night's magnitude-5.9 quake struck at a shallow depth at 11:59 pm local time (1559 GMT) with its epicentre around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Gansu's provincial capital, Lanzhou.
Dozens of smaller aftershocks followed and officials warned that tremors with a magnitude of more than 5.0 were possible in the next few days.
Fears are growing that survivors could succumb to the bitter cold, with temperatures in Jishishan expected to dip as low as -17 degrees Celsius (1.4 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday.
Thousands of firefighters and rescue personnel have been sent to the disaster zone and state media said 2,500 tents, 20,000 coats and 5,000 rollaway beds had been sent to Gansu.