A powerful 5.2-magnitude earthquake jolted the Liuzhou city region in southern China early Monday morning, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. According to state media reports, the tremor struck at 12:21 a.m., resulting in the deaths of a 63-year-old man and his 53-year-old wife. Beyond the loss of life, the quake caused at least 13 buildings to collapse and forced local authorities to launch a massive evacuation effort that displaced over 7,000 residents. As of Tuesday morning, search and rescue crews continue to comb through the rubble in hopes of locating one individual who remains officially missing.

Footage broadcast by CCTV captured the chaos of the night, showing terrified residents rushing from high-rise apartments as nearby structures crumbled into debris. The recovery operation has been extensive, with emergency personnel utilizing heavy machinery and specialized search dogs to navigate the ruins and locate survivors. While earthquakes are a recurring reality in China—notably exemplified by a catastrophic tremor in Tibet last January that claimed over 100 lives—this latest incident serves as a grim reminder of the region's ongoing vulnerability to seismic activity.