Latest reports show that the death toll from Chinaโs earthquake has risen to 131, with almost 1,000 people injured, as rescuers dig through rubble in below freezing conditions.
According to reports, the magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck just before midnight on Monday, in Jishishan county near the border of Gansu and Qinghai provinces, destroying or damaging more than 150,000 homes, according to state media.
The quake, which was followed by several strong aftershocks, caused mud and landslides, and damaged power lines and other local infrastructure โto varying degreesโ. On Wednesday morning authorities said the official death toll had risen to 131 in Gansu with 782 injured, and 18 dead and 198 injured in Qinghai.
The high-altitude area in Chinaโs north-west reported temperatures as low as -16C, hampering rescue efforts, amid a days-long cold wave sweeping across most of China.
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Responders, including 1,500 firefighters, 1,500 police officers, 1,000 PLA soldiers, and about 400 medics kept pulling people from rubble and treat the injured. Authorities said that 78 people had been rescued in Gansu but 20 people were still missing from two villages in Minhe county, where a mudslide swept through, half-burying many buildings in brown silt. Search and rescue operations and efforts to resettle residents continued as state media footage showed bulldozers removing thick mud.
The frigid temperatures are expected to continue in the region but many residents are too afraid to return home, instead huddling around fires in open spaces.
โI just feel anxious, what other feelings could there be?โ said Ma Dongdong, who noted in a phone interview with AFP that three bedrooms in his house had been destroyed and a part of his milk tea shop was cracked wide open.
Afraid to return home because of aftershocks, he spent the first night in a field with his wife, two children and some neighbours, where they made a fire to stay warm. In the early morning, they went to a tent settlement that Ma said was housing about 700 people. As of mid-afternoon, they were waiting for blankets and warm clothing to arrive.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
