The 1st Thread/TWD Condolences For 4/14/10: At Least 400 Hundred Dead, A Thousand Injured In South Qinghai Earthquake

The news just got worse and worse as the night progressed:

A powerful earthquake rocked Qinhai province in northwest China on Wednesday morning, seismologists said, killing at least 400 people and leaving many thousands more injured. A strong aftershock followed more than an hour later.
The 7.1-magnitude earthquake at 7.49 a.m. local time was centered about 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) from Jiegu Township, the government seat of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It struck about 20.5 miles (33 kilometers) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.9.

The China Earthquake Administration said the earthquake was felt strongly and said many homes had collapsed. The Administration said level two of the national earthquake emergency plan was immediately activated, and it was later upgraded it to level one - the highest level.

Qinhai province sent a 62-member earthquake disaster emergency rescue team to the region, while the Qamdo Tibet Autonomous Region dispatched a 40-member rescue team. The China Earthquake Administration also sent a rescue team of 15 members to provide assistance. Other rescue teams are on standby.

State-run CNTV cited Huang Limin, deputy secretary-general of the government of the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu, as saying that at least 400 people had been killed. Another official was cited as saying that tens of thousands of people had been injured. The Chinese government previously said that at least 67 people had been killed, and hundreds injured. The state-run Xinhua news agency reported that 'many others' are still buried under the rubble.