The death toll from the earthquake that struck northwest China earlier this week has risen to 131 dead, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday, as the search for survivors continues in the freezing cold.
• Also read: China: Earthquake kills at least 127 people in northwest
The earthquake struck just before midnight on Monday about 1,300 km southwest of Beijing. According to CCTV, the disaster claimed at least 113 lives in Gansu province and 18 in neighboring Qinghai province. Hundreds of thousands of houses were also damaged.
“Treatment and rescue of the injured as well as emergency repairs are still underway,” CCTV added on Wednesday.
AFP
This is the country's worst earthquake since an earthquake in Yunnan Province (southwest China) that killed more than 600 people in 2014.
And in 2008, a massive earthquake in Sichuan province (central west) left more than 87,000 people dead or missing, including 5,335 school children.
AFP
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the earthquake at a shallow depth of magnitude 5.9 at 11:59 p.m. local time (3:59 p.m. GMT) on Monday and located the epicenter about a hundred kilometers from the regional capital of Lanzhou Gansu.
The earthquake was followed by several dozen smaller aftershocks, but authorities warned that new earthquakes of more than magnitude 5 were expected in the coming days.
AFP
Living people trapped in rubble risk succumbing to the freezing cold as they wait to be rescued. Temperatures near the epicenter are expected to fall to -17°C on Wednesday.
AFP
AFP journalists on the scene saw affected residents huddled outside near smaller fires, too afraid to return to their badly damaged homes and risk collapse in the event of new aftershocks.
Thousands of firefighters and rescue workers were sent to the disaster areas. According to Chinese state media, 2,500 tents, 20,000 coats and 5,000 folding beds were sent to Gansu province.