Two foreign nationals injured in China's 7.0-magnitude quake

CHENGDU -- A French man and a Canadian woman were among the injured after a powerful earthquake rattled a mountainous area in southwest China on Tuesday.

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Jiuzhaigou, a popular tourist destination in Southwest China's Sichuan province Tuesday evening. So far, 13 died and 175 others are injured, according to the information office of the provincial government.

Maxence Vallon, 18, a French national was wounded in both legs, while the Canadian woman, who declined to be named, suffered slight injury in the head.

Both are being treated at the people's hospital of Jiuzhaigou county.

Exact number of casualties of foreign nationals in the disaster are not available yet.

Yuan Jin, a doctor specialized in treating bone injuries, said there are stone fragments in Vallon's right leg, and he needed immediate surgery to prevent infection.

Vallon is travelling with his elder brother and mother in the area.

"We ran out of the hotel when the earthquake happened. The power was out, so we lay on an open ground. I was lucky, but my brother was hit in the leg by a fallen stone," said Romain Vallon, who studies aerial engineering in Tsinghua University in Beijing.

"He bled heavily, and the hotel staff brought towels and white liquor for disinfection. They helped me band his leg with plastic bags, and one of the staff drove us into a nearby clinic with his private car. There, we waited an hour or so until an ambulance picked us up and delivered us to the county hospital," he said.

"The medical staff are very efficient. No people got left behind, and everything is in good order," he said.

"My mother is in panic after the earthquake, and she is recovering from yesterday's experience. We hope we can return home as soon as possible," he said.

The Canadian woman can leave hospital within two or three days, doctors said.

"We received excellent care. The rescuers and doctors have been very helpful," she said.

The quake zone sits in a region that has been hit by at least three major tectonic earthquakes and other geological disasters over the past decade.

In May 2008, an 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck Wenchuan, about 200 km south of Jiuzhaigou, killing more than 80,000 people.