At least 118 people were killed in a 6.2 magnitude earthquake that shook parts of Gansu and Qinghai provinces in northwest China on Monday evening, state media reported.
The earthquake, which occurred in a remote and cold region of the country, with temperatures reaching minus 15 degrees, left more than 500 people injured, houses and roads damaged, and power and telecommunications disrupted.
State TV CCTV reported that 105 people had been killed in Gansu province and another 11 in neighboring Qinghai province. The earthquake struck just before midnight on Monday at a depth of 10 kilometers (six miles).
The earthquake struck Jishishan village, Gansu, about 5 kilometers from Qinghai. The epicenter was about 1,300 kilometers southwest of Beijing, the capital of China.
#Update The #earthquake left 199 injured and damaged 6,381 houses in Jishishan. At 8 a.m., 32 aftershocks were recorded, the largest of which measured 4.0, Han Shujun, a spokesman for the provincial emergency management department, told the press… pic.twitter.com/o757Bus0Tx
– China Daily (@ChinaDaily) December 19, 2023
CCTV footage captured the moment a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck Jishishan, Linxia, Gansu Province, China at midnight on Monday. According to Xinhua, more than 110 people were killed in the earthquake. Large-scale rescue efforts are underway. pic.twitter.com/d0M2ETJQ7S
– Global Times (@globaltimesnews) December 19, 2023
According to local press, rescue operations are underway.
According to state television CCTV, more than 300 people were treated for injuries in the early morning. At least 140 people were injured in Qinghai and another 397 in Gansu, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The United States Geological Survey placed the magnitude of the earthquake at 5.9.
CCTV reported that there were interruptions in water and electricity supplies, as well as transport and communications infrastructure.
The earthquake was felt in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, about 100 kilometers northeast of the epicenter.
Students at Lanzhou University hurriedly left their dormitories and stayed outside, according to social media posts.
Many wore only their pajamas on a cold winter night, said Wang Xi, a student at Lanzhou University who shared the images.
“The earthquake was too intense,” he described. “My legs felt weak, especially when we ran down the dorm stairs.”
According to CCTV, tents, folding beds and duvets were sent to the region. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a comprehensive effort in rescue efforts to minimize casualties.
The minimum night temperature in the region was between minus 15 and minus 9 degrees Celsius, the China Meteorological Administration said.
A video published by the Ministry of Emergency Management showed workers in orange uniforms using poles to move heavy pieces of concrete at night. Other videos released by the press show workers lifting a victim and helping a slightly staggering person walk in an area covered in snow.
Firefighters carried out rescue operations in earthquake-hit areas at a minimum temperature of -12 degrees Celsius in Haidong, northwest China’s Qinghai province. Haidong is located about 20 kilometers from Jishishan County, Gansu Province, where the magnitude 6.2 earthquake… pic.twitter.com/9qrpogoTc6
– Global Times (@globaltimesnews) December 19, 2023
High school student Ma Shijun ran out of his dormitory barefoot, without even wearing a jacket, he told Xinhua. The strong vibrations made their hands numb, and the teachers quickly organized the students on the playground.
Earthquakes are common in northwestern China, a mountainous region that forms the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.
In September last year, at least 74 people were killed in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook southwestern China’s Sichuan province, triggering landslides and shaking buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu , where 21 million inhabitants live. COVID-19.
The deadliest earthquake in China in recent years was a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in 2008, which killed nearly 90,000 people in Sichuan. The earthquake destroyed towns, schools and rural communities on the outskirts of Chengdu, prompting years of reconstruction with stronger materials.
Source: DN
