Medical personnel rush to treat rescued victims after a magnitude-6.2 quake strikes Gansu Province, northwest China, December 19, 2023. /Xinhua
Search and rescue and relief work is underway on Tuesday after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province at a depth of 10 kilometers, killing at least 118 people and damaging local infrastructure.
The quake, which hit at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, was followed by 306 aftershocks, with the largest registering a magnitude of 4.1 as of noon on Tuesday. According to the local departments at a press conference on the earthquake on the same day, strong aftershocks measuring up to a magnitude 5 are still possible in the coming days.
So far, the earthquake has killed 105 people in Gansu and 13 people in neighboring Qinghai Province. It has damaged houses, roads and other infrastructure. Several villages in the county have suffered power failure and water supply disruption.
China has upgraded the national earthquake emergency response to Level II, the second highest in its four-tier system, and has dispatched a work team and thousands of rescuers, including 1,440 firefighters, armed police and hundreds of doctors to the quake-affected areas, with another 1,603 firefighters already assembled and ready for cross-regional reinforcements. Forty-five people have been rescued as of 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Thousands of cotton tents, tens of thousands of cotton coats and quilts and other disaster relief supplies have been sent to the areas where the daily minimum temperature in the county will reach minus 10 degrees Celsius, according to local meteorological authorities.
Armed police search through rubble for people who are trapped in Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province, December 19, 2023. /CMG
After the earthquake, parts of the local power system broke down, affecting 34,070 users. After four hours of all-out repairs, power was restored to 12,991 users as of 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
Emergency rescue channels have been opened to ensure the free and rapid passage of rescue vehicles. According to the Ministry of Transport, cracks have appeared on National Highway 310, and rescue and small vehicles are currently passing normally. However, large vehicles are prohibited.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management allocated 200 million yuan (about $28 million) in relief funds to the Gansu and Qinghai provinces to support local disaster relief work.
