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A video purporting to show Chinese residents unable to escape the earthquake due to the coronavirus lockdown has sparked outrage on social media.
Residents of Chengdu, China’s Sichuan province, were told to stay indoors due to the coronavirus lockdown, despite a magnitude-6.8 earthquake that collapsed buildings and killed at least 65 people. BBC reported.
in a video Post on social mediawith the caption, “It was scary, we all went downstairs because of the earthquake, but we can’t get out,” and residents were yelling to the guards standing outside to let them out.
“Hurry up and open the door, it’s an earthquake!” one resident reportedly shouted.
Millions in China Under COVID Lockdown Restrictions
“It’s over, the earthquake is over,” the guard shouts back.
The Chengdu area is currently under strict coronavirus restrictions, and in some cases, apartments where one person has tested positive for the virus have been designated as “closed areas,” whether infected or not. Residents are prohibited from leaving the building.
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According to Chinese business magazine Caixin, 65 million citizens in more than 30 cities across China are under strict lockdown measures due to the coronavirus.
In another video, a loudspeaker message was reportedly telling residents to “go home” because it was “just an earthquake.”
One man told the BBC that he had tried to escape a 30-story building only to be trapped in a gate and surrounded by people arguing over how to get out.
BBC reported Social media Chinese users have lashed out at the lockdown in comments on the video, some calling it a “joke” and even debating whether citizens should be allowed to flee buildings during an earthquake.
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Another social media user sarcastically commented, “I think it’s okay to die in the building. At least I didn’t get infected.”
An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 The China Earthquake Network Center said it hit a mountainous area in Sichuan province’s Luding county just after noon on Monday.
Located on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau where tectonic plates meet, Sichuan is regularly hit by earthquakes. Two earthquakes in June Killed at least four people.
The Associated Press contributed to this report