On Wednesday, the Chinese authorities continued to impose a strict COVID lockdown in the southern part of the country even as a strong earthquake killed 74 people in the Chengdu region. The authorities also stopped the citizens from leaving their apartments after a 6.8 magnitude quake hit the surrounding province of Sichuan.
The city of Chengdu located in the southern part of the country houses around 21 million people and is facing severe lockdown after recording a handful of COVID cases. The video of the Chinese authorities preventing people from fleeing buildings during the powerful earthquake went viral over social media.
Death toll from a strong earthquake that struck southwest China rises to 74, state media report.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 7, 2022
Thousands evacuated into temporary shelters as heavy rains threaten to cause landslideshttps://t.co/aCtOOxFKJZ pic.twitter.com/KeLDRkIfCt
The netizens criticised the strict COVID lockdown imposed by the Chinese authorities and condemned the incident. The video which went viral over social media showed people struggling to get out of the apartment after a 6.8 magnitude quake hit the region. One of the men in the clips could be heard saying to the guard, “Hurry up, open the door! It’s an earthquake!”, to which the guard replied, “It’s over, the earthquake’s over”.
Another guard meanwhile could be heard saying, “Go back home and do not gather here, it’s just an earthquake. We have a lot of experience when it comes to earthquakes”. One of the lawyers from Chengdu however kept on yelling at the guard saying, “Which one is more important, the lockdown or the earthquake?”
The incident is said to have happened on Monday, September 5, when an earthquake killed around 74 people in the southern part of the country. The quake’s epicenter was a hilly location in Luding county, which is located on the border of the Tibetan Plateau about 200 kilometers from Chengdu, where tectonic plates collide.
China has pursued a zero COVID-19 policy, which means that lockdowns are frequently implemented in communities when even a single case of the virus is found. In certain cases, apartments and buildings where at least one tenant has tested positive for COVID, have been labeled as ‘sealed zones’. The policy prohibits residents from leaving their houses regardless of whether they are infected with the virus or not.
Notably, 65 million Chinese are currently under lockdown in 33 locations, including seven provincial capitals, with the authorities restricting internal flights during upcoming national holidays. COVID cases have been detected in 103 places, reportedly the most since the pandemic’s early days in 2020.
The lockdown which is imposed in many Chinese cities including Shanghai and Chengdu is affecting the life of Chinese citizens with the haphazard implementation of the lockdown. People are complaining about a shortage of food, medication, and appropriate access to healthcare.
China on Tuesday reported 1,499 new cases of local infection, most of them asymptomatic. Sichuan accounted for 138 of that figure.
