China reports no major collapses following powerful quake

The recruitment industry has lauded the possible opportunity for Filipinos, particularly household service workers (HSWs), to work in China. (PNA Photo)

BEIJING — Chinese monitors say they’ve detected multiple landslides but no major building collapses following a powerful earthquake in the country’s mountainous southwest that killed at least 19 people.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth under the Chinese Academy of Sciences drew the conclusion from satellite imagery collected after the magnitude 6.5 quake struck Tuesday night.

Another 247 people were injured, 40 seriously, by the temblor, which China’s earthquake monitoring agency measured at magnitude 7.0.

At least five of those killed were tourists and thousands of visitors had been evacuated by Thursday amid continuing aftershocks.

Most of the deaths and injuries were recorded in Zhangzha township, near the famed Jiuzhaigou national park that is listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site.