Key Points
- At least 105 people died in the province of Gansu, Xinhua News Agency said.
- Another 11 were killed in the neighbouring province of Qinghai.
- Chinese leader Xi Jinping reportedly called for an all-out search and rescue effort.
An overnight earthquake has killed at least 116 people in a cold and mountainous region of northwest China, state media reports.
Search and rescue operations were underway in Gansu and neighbouring Qinghai provinces. The earthquake left more than 500 people injured, severely damaged houses and roads, and knocked out power and communication lines, according to media reports on Tuesday.
The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck in Gansu at a relatively shallow depth of 10km just before midnight on Monday, the China Earthquake Networks Center said. The United States Geological Survey measured the magnitude at 5.9.
By mid-morning, 105 people had been confirmed dead in Gansu and another 397 injured, including 16 in critical condition, said provincial emergency management department Han Shujun at a news conference.
Eleven others were killed and at least 140 injured in Qinghai, according to state media.
The earthquake was felt in much of the surrounding area including Lanzhou, the Gansu provincial capital, about 100km northeast of the epicentre.
Photos and videos posted by a student at Lanzhou University showed students hastily leaving a dormitory building and standing outside with long down jackets over their pyjamas.
“The earthquake was too intense,” said Wang Xi, the student who posted the images. “My legs went weak, especially when we ran downstairs from the dormitory.”
The earthquake left more than 500 people injured, severely damaged houses and roads, and knocked out power and communication lines. Source: AAP, AP / Zhang Hongxiang
The quake struck in Gansu’s Jishishan county, about 5km from the provincial boundary with Qinghai. The epicentre was about 1,300km southwest of Beijing, the Chinese capital.
There were nine aftershocks by 10am, about 10 hours after the earthquake, with the largest registering a magnitude of 4.1, a Gansu official said.
Tents, folding beds, and quilts were being sent to the disaster area, state broadcaster CCTV said. It quoted Chinese leader Xi Jinping as calling for an all-out search and rescue effort to minimise the casualties.
The overnight low in the area was minus 15C to minus 9C, the China Meteorological Administration said.
At least 4,000 firefighters, soldiers and police officers were dispatched in the rescue effort, and the People’s Liberation Army Western Theatre set up a command post to direct its work.
Han, the Gansu spokesperson, said the rescue work was proceeding in an orderly manner and asked people to avoid going to the quake-hit areas to prevent traffic jams that could hinder the effort.
A video posted by the Ministry of Emergency Management showed emergency workers in orange uniforms using rods to try to move heavy pieces of what looked like concrete debris at night.
Tents set up for residents in the aftermath of an earthquake in Dahejia village of Jishishan county in northwestern China’s Gansu province on Tuesday. Source: AAP, AP / AP
Other night-time videos distributed by state media showed workers lifting out a victim and helping a slightly stumbling person to walk in an area covered with light snow.
Middle school student Ma Shijun ran out of his dormitory barefoot without even putting on a coat, according to a Xinhua report. It said the strong tremors left his hands a bit numb, and that teachers quickly organised the students on the playground.
CCTV reported that there was damage to water and electricity lines, as well as transportation and communications infrastructure.
Earthquakes are somewhat common in the mountainous area of western China that rises up to form the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau.
Last year in September, at least 74 people were reported killed in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook China’s southwest province of Sichuan, triggering landslides and shaking buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu, where 21 million residents were under a COVID-19 lockdown.
China’s deadliest earthquake in recent years was a 7.9 magnitude quake in 2008 that killed nearly 90,000 people in Sichuan. The tremor devastated towns, schools and rural communities outside Chengdu, leading to a years-long effort to rebuild with more resistant materials.
