UPDATE [April 21, 2013 @ 07:00UTC] : More than 200 dead or missing up to 12,000 injured.
China Quake official death toll climbs to 179, many thousands injured
Search and recovery teams continued to dig bodies out of rubble Sunday as the official death toll from Saturday’s devastating earthquake climbed to 179 with as many as 7,000 people injured and tens of thousands of people made homeless in SW China’s Sichuan Province.
- “In Baoxing, a county isolated by the 7.0-magnitude quake, 26 people were confirmed dead and about 2,500 were injured, county head Ma Jun told Xinhua.
- “He said the quake damaged almost every home in Baoxing, with a population of 58,000, including newly-built homes after the devastating quake of 2008.”
- The Longmen township located close to the quake epicenter has been almost entirely leveled.
- Most of the deaths were concentrated in Lushan; however, more than 90 survivors were pulled out of rubble in the county.
Rescuers head for Baosheng Township in the quake-hit Lushan County, Ya’an City, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, April 20, 2013. Roads connected to townships like Baosheng and Taiping in Lushan were damaged or blocked by landslides due to a 7.0-magnitude earthquake which occurred on Saturday.(Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing). More images…
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Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events
US Flood Update
“The recent torrent of rainfall in the Midwest has sent river levels rising across the region. Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan have been hardest hit states. Some river levels will approach and even break records. Numerous flood warnings are in effect [across parts of at least 16 states.]” —NWS
- Thousands of homes have been flooded in the Midwest.
- More than 2,000 people have been evacuated from Illinois towns of Marseilles and London Mills.
- The raging Des Plaines River has inundated the town of Forest View, flooding 90 percent of the community and prompting a massive evacuation of at least 700 people [families?]
- Plaza Towers hotel and apartments in Grand Rapids has been evacuated due to flooding of the Grand River.
- A mandatory flood evacuation order has been issued for the residents of Spring Bay and portions of Creve Coeur, Illinois.
April 2013 Record River Crests
Preliminary record crests for rivers that have crested in northern Illinois. Source: NWS, Chicago
Latest Disaster and Emergency Declarations
- Iowa Gov. Bransted has issued a disaster declaration for five eastern counties: Cedar, Johnson, Mahaska, Scott and Washington.
- Illinois Gov. Quinn has declared 38 counties disaster areas.
- “Illinois has seen an incredible level of devastation and reports indicate that conditions will get worse in the coming days. ” Quinn said.
- Governor Nixon has declared a state of emergency in response to heavy rain and flash flooding in much of the state
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SoCal fire forces mass evacuation in Monrovia
“Residents of about 200 homes in Monrovia have been forced to evacuate after a brush fire erupted in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills east of Los Angeles,” said a report.
The blaze has scorched more than 170 acres and was 10 percent contained, as of posting.
Fire Earth 