Children entertain themselves in a disaster relief tent on Tuesday in Shuanghe, a township in Changning county, Sichuan province, after an earthquake struck on Monday night. LIU CHANGSONG / FOR CHINA DAILY
Xi asked leaders of the Communist Party of China and officials in affected areas to firmly establish a people-centered approach and actively organize flood control and relief efforts to safeguard lives and property.
Premier Li Keqiang also instructed various departments to verify the disaster situation, do their utmost to rescue people, repair damaged transport and telecommunications infrastructure, publish timely updates and maintain social order in the quake zone. The Ministry of Emergency Management has activated an emergency response and sent work teams to stricken areas to provide guidance.
The National Development and Reform Commission has allocated 50 million yuan ($7.2 million) to support emergency rescue and infrastructure construction. The quake rocked Yibin, and people in nearby cities, including Chengdu and Chongqing, felt the temblor.
A series of aftershocks have been measured, including one of magnitude 5.1. Wei Lai, 25, an office worker at an IT company in Chengdu, 260 kilometers from the epicenter, was in bed on the fifth floor of an apartment building when the quake struck.
"I felt the bed shake violently twice in less than a minute. I was terrified and was in panic even after the shaking stopped," Wei said. Because of the earthquake and its aftershocks, some railway operations were affected, including in Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces and Chongqing, where services were delayed or canceled, said China Railway Corp. Operations at Chengdu's airport were not affected.
