At least 116 killed by earthquake in northwestern China

At least 116 killed by earthquake in northwestern China

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake has killed 116 people and injured another 500 in a mountainous region of northwestern China on Monday night.

The earthquake struck at 11.59pm (4pm GMT) at a shallow depth of 10km in Gansu province and neighbouring Qinghai province, the China Earthquake Networks Centre said.

It was followed by a second 5.5 magnitude earthquake hours later in neighbouring Xinjiang.

The earthquake has damaged over 4,700 houses as well as major roads, and knocked out power and communication lines, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Water supply lines were also reported to have been impacted.

President Xi Jinping said “all efforts should be made to carry out search and rescue, treat the injured in a timely manner, and minimise casualties”.

Around 105 people had been confirmed dead in Gansu and 397 are injured, including 16 in critical condition, Han Shujun, a spokesperson for the provincial emergency management department, said at a news conference.

Eleven others were killed and at least 140 injured in Qinghai, according to state media.

Gansu is one of China’s poorest regions, bordering Mongolia between the Tibetan and Loess plateaus. It is currently witnessing freezing conditions, with overnight lows in the area recorded at -15C to -9C, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

Video footage showed patients arriving at hospitals, while rescuers combed through the debris of buildings that had collapsed in the dark of night. University students in Lanzhou rushed out of their dorms, according to a social media post, showing images of young people standing outside.

Tents, folding beds and quilts were being sent to the disaster area with make-shift accommodation being set up for those rendered homeless, CCTV said.

The earthquake was measured at 5.9 magnitude by the United States Geological Survey, though China’s monitoring agency said it measured 6.2.

China’s finance ministry and emergency management ministry jointly allocated 200m yuan (£22.1m) in natural disaster relief funds to earthquake-hit Gansu and Qinghai provinces, CCTV reported.

According to the Gansu earthquake administration, around 140 aftershocks occurred after the initial 6.2 earthquake, with the largest measuring 4.1 magnitude.

A resident surnamed Qin told reporters that it was freezing cold at -12C when the quake struck.

“I live on the 16th floor and felt the tremors so strongly. The moment of the earthquake was feeling like being tossed up after surging waves… I woke my family up and we rushed down all 16 floors in one breath,” the Gansu resident said.

Neighbouring Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen expressed her condolences to China and said Taipei was willing to provide assistance to China, according to Taiwan’s presidential office.

Earthquakes are relatively common in the mountainous regions of western China that rise to form the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau.

In September last year, at least 74 people were killed in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in the southwestern province of Sichuan. It caused landslides and shaking buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu, where 21 million residents were under a Covid-19 lockdown.

In China’s deadliest earthquake in recent decades, around 90,000 people were killed in 2008 in Sichuan. The earthquake wreaked havoc on towns, schools, and rural communities surrounding Chengdu, prompting a years-long effort to reconstruct using materials that are more resilient.