Southwest China quake leaves 46 dead, triggers landslides

BEIJING (AP) — At least 46 people have been reported killed in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook China’s southwestern province of Sichuan. It triggered landslides and shook buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu, whose 21 million residents are already under a COVID-19 lockdown. The quake struck a mountainous area in Luding county shortly after noon Monday. Sichuan, which sits on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau where tectonic plates meet, is regularly hit by earthquakes. Two quakes in June killed at least four people. Along with the deaths, authorities reported stones and soil falling from mountainsides, causing damage to homes and power interruptions. One landslide blocked a rural highway, leaving it strewn with rocks. A Chengdu resident says she hid under a desk.