Beijing, Dec 20 (EFE).- The death toll of a 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck China’s Gansu and Qinghai provinces climbed to 131 on Wednesday as rescue operations continued amid bitter cold conditions.
Rescuers erect a tent at Dahe Village of Jishishan Bao’an, Dongxiang, Salar Autonomous County in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Gansu Province, following an earthquake 19 December 2023. EFE-EPA/XINHUA/Ma Xiping CHINA OUT/ UK AND IRELAND OUT/MANDATORY CREDIT EDITORIAL USE ONLY
Relief supplies have begun arriving in Gansu, where 113 people were killed, and Qinghai, where 18 fatalities have been recorded so far.
Rescuers transfer an injured person at Dahe Village of Jishishan Bao’an, Dongxiang, Salar Autonomous County in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Gansu Province, 19 December 2023. EFE-EPA/XINHUA/Ma Xiping CHINA OUT/UK AND IRELAND OUT/MANDATORY CREDIT EDITORIAL USE ONLY
A total of 734 people are injured and around 20 missing, according to the authorities.
Rescuers at the scene in Caotan Village of Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County in Haidong City, northwest China’s Qinghai Province, following an earthquake 19 December 2023. EFE-EPA/XINHUA/Zhang Hongxiang CHINA OUT/UK AND IRELAND OUT/MANDATORY CREDIT EDITORIAL USE ONLY
The earthquake was recorded at 11:59 pm on Monday night and had its epicenter 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep on the border between the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
The county of Jishisan in Gansu and the city of Haidong in the neighboring Qinghai have been the worst affected.
Rescue teams are working against the clock to search for survivors amid bitter cold conditions with temperatures of up to minus 14 degrees Celsius.
The rugged, mountainous terrain is also presenting a challenge to the teams.
Meanwhile, some of the affected basic services have begun to be restored.
In Jishisan, 279 of the 314 existing telecommunication stations are operational and power has been restored to 88 percent of the households, official news agency Xinhua reported.
The earthquake damaged or caused the collapse of more than 155,000 houses and also affected water, power, telecommunications and transportation services.
The Chinese government and the ministry of emergency management announced a level II response to the disaster and allocated 200 million yuan ($28 million) towards rescue and relief efforts.
The first shipments of relief supplies, including tents, folding beds, blankets and stoves, have already begun to arrive in the affected area.
More than 1,500 firefighters, 1,500 police officers and 1,000 soldiers have been deployed to the quake-hit regions, along with medical teams, including a group of experts from the National Health Commission.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged local authorities to “make every effort” to treat the injured, repair infrastructure and relocate those affected.
Monday’s earthquake was the deadliest to strike China since a quake in the western province of Yunnan left 617 dead in August 2014.
Since 1900, at least three earthquakes of magnitude-6 or greater have been recorded within a radius of 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the epicenter, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center, which warned of the risk of aftershocks of magnitude-5 or higher in the area in the coming days. EFE
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