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Rescue operation in Kangdiao in China's Gansu province
Photo: China Daily / REUTERS
At least 111 people have died in a major earthquake in northwestern China. As the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, 6 people were initially reported injured after the 2.220-magnitude quake late Monday evening.
At least 100 people were killed in Jishishan County in Gansu Province. The neighboring province of Qinghai initially reported eleven deaths. China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping called for everything to be done to save people.
Eyewitnesses told Xinhua that the earthquake caused damage to homes, roads and other infrastructure. In several villages, the electricity went out and the water supply was cut off. The U.S. Seismological Observatory USGS initially gave the magnitude of the quake as 6.0 and later as 5.9.
According to the local weather agency, the lowest temperature in Jishishan is expected to reach minus 10 degrees on Tuesday. The provincial fire and rescue department has sent helpers to the region. The railway authority suspended the passage of trains through the earthquake zone.
Chinese state media showed photos of people fleeing their homes after the quake and staying outside wrapped in blankets in wintry temperatures. State television showed rescue workers searching for survivors in the rubble.
Quakes were felt even further away
"We are still in shock," a man from Jishishan told local news outlet Jimu about two hours after the quake. He and his family ran down the stairs from their apartment on the 16th floor. Then they would have taken the car to safety. The quake was also felt in more distant cities such as Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu, according to eyewitnesses.
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 major 7.9-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 80,000 people.
jok/dpa