The epicenter of the magnitude 6.2 quake, which occurred around midnight (local time), was in Jishishan County. The rescue work continued. Around 400 people were injured, the authorities reported.
Authorities said more than 4,700 buildings were destroyed. Rescue and relief efforts are underway. The government declared a state of emergency. The number of missing people is still unclear. Eyewitnesses told state news agency Xinhua that the quake caused damage to houses, roads and other infrastructure. There was a power outage in several villages and the water supply was interrupted. The railway authority suspended trains from passing through the earthquake zone.
Around 2,200 rescue workers were sent to the disaster area, Xinhua reported. The military and police are also involved in the rescue work. Power was gradually restored in the earthquake zone following the state power grid dispatched 18 emergency repair teams, state television CCTV reported.
According to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC), the earth shook at a depth of ten kilometers at 11:59 p.m. (local time) on Monday. At least 105 people were killed in Jishishan County in Gansu Province. The neighboring province of Qinghai initially reported 11 deaths. China’s state and party leader Xi Jinping called for everything to be done to save people.
“We are still in shock,” a man from Jishishan told local news portal Jimu regarding two hours following the quake. He and his family ran down the stairs from their apartment on the 16th floor. Then they got to safety in the car. According to eyewitnesses, the quake was also felt in more distant cities such as Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu.
The affected area is in a remote mountainous region on the eastern edge of the tectonically active Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The temperature in Linxia, near where the earthquake occurred, was around minus 14 degrees Celsius early on Tuesday (local time). Most of China is battling freezing temperatures as a cold snap has hit the country since last week.
The last major earthquake in China with many deaths occurred last year, when more than 60 people died in the southwest of the country. In 2008, Sichuan Province was hit by a massive 7.9 magnitude earthquake, killing more than 80,000 people.
