Chinese protesters blame fracking for earthquakes that killed two people in Sichuan
- Highest concentration of shale gas is found in province’s southwest, a hilly area prone to quakes because of its proximity to geological fault lines
Protesters targeted local government headquarters in southwest China after earthquakes blamed on shale gas fracking killed two people and injured 12 others.
Videos on WeChat showed about 1,000 protesters and 2,000 onlookers outside government headquarters in Sichuan on Sunday and Monday afternoon, with many claiming that the earthquakes were the result of large-scale fracking in the area.
Radio Free Asia, the US government-backed broadcaster, published footage showing thousands of marchers carrying banners calling for a ban on fracking. Some rushed a police barrier at the entrance of the main government compound.
Three earthquakes struck Sichuan’s Rong county between 5.40pm on Sunday and 1.15pm on Monday and ranged from 4.3 to 4.9 in magnitude, affecting more than 13,000 residents and damaging more than 10,000 buildings.
The cost of the damage was estimated to be more than 14 million yuan (US$2.1 million).
The 4.9-magnitude quake hit on Monday. Three of the injured were in critical condition, while two people were killed when a balcony railing fell on them, state news agency Xinhua reported.
The government in Sichuan’s shale mining heartland suspended all fracking operations. Officials in the city of Zigong in Rong county said on Monday the suspension was a safety measure, Thecover.cn reported.