On Tuesday, rescuers in isolated communities in northwest China combed through the debris of toppled houses following the biggest earthquake to strike the nation in years, which left at least 126 people dead and hundreds more injured.
As of Tuesday afternoon, according to state media, the shallow earthquake that occurred shortly before midnight in the poor Gansu province had resulted in at least 113 deaths and over 530 injuries.
In Haidong, in the nearby province of Qinghai, there were an additional 13 deaths, 182 injuries, and 20 unaccounted-for deaths, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
CCTV footage shows that the earthquake caused damage to over 155,000 structures, forcing many to flee into the icy streets in search of protection.
At a village near the epicentre, AFP reporters saw huge cracks running through the exterior and interior walls of a brick home, and the roof of a building that had caved in completely.
“I am 70 and I have never experienced such a powerful quake in my life,” resident Ma Wenchang told AFP.
“I can’t live (in this house) anymore because it’s too dangerous. My relatives have been relocated somewhere else.”
At another location, the top of a mosque had collapsed askew, and another building was reduced to mere rubble.
The roads were full of emergency and military vehicles, and the AFP team saw trucks covered in red banners reading “earthquake relief supplies”.
Deadliest in years
Since 2014, when more than 600 people perished in the southwest Yunnan province, this earthquake has become China’s deadliest.
The western hinterland of China is scarred by periodic seismic activity; in 2008, a massive earthquake in Sichuan province claimed the lives of over 87,000 people, including 5,335 kids.
According to the US Geological Survey, the magnitude 5.9 earthquake that occurred on Monday night occurred at a shallow depth around 11:59 p.m. local time (1559 GMT), with an epicenter located about 60 miles (or 100 kilometers) from Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu.
According to China’s official news agency Xinhua, the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.2 and was felt 570 kilometers distant, in the main city of Xi’an.
Dozens of smaller aftershocks followed, and officials warned that tremors with a magnitude of more than 5.0 were possible in the next few days.
A quake measured at magnitude 5.2 by USGS was detected further northwest in the Xinjiang region on Tuesday morning.
Freezing temperatures
As search and rescue operations got began early on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for “all-out efforts.”
According to CCTV, he stated that rescuers should be alert for any secondary disasters because the high-altitude area has temperatures below freezing.
According to state media, areas near the epicentre had disruptions in their water and power supply, but later saw some restoration of energy.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated in Gansu, officials said.
In addition to the tens of thousands of firefighters and rescue workers dispatched to the disaster area, official media said that 5,000 rollaway beds, 20,000 coats, and 2,500 tents had been supplied to Gansu.
CCTV additionally stated that in order to “guarantee the security of people’s lives and property, and minimise the impact of losses from the disaster,” the central government had tentatively transferred 200 million yuan ($28 million) in relief cash.
In some photos, the overalls-clad rescue personnel were seen standing shoulder to shoulder in the vehicles, while in other others, they were arranged in lines to await orders.
In other clips, first responders could be seen using torches to search through the wreckage and unroll orange stretchers for the injured.
There are often earthquakes in China. A shallow 5.4-magnitude earthquake that struck the country’s east in August caused numerous buildings to collapse and injured 23 people.
A 6.6-magnitude earthquake that struck the region of Sichuan in September 2022 claimed around 100 lives.
3,000 persons were reported killed or missing in a Qinghai earthquake in 2010 that had a magnitude of 6.9.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, sent Chinese President Xi his “deep” sympathies over the earthquake.
“In Russia, we share the pain of those who lost their loved ones in the disaster and hope for a speedy recovery for all those injured,” said Putin in a letter, according to a statement from the Kremlin.