At least 116 people are killed in the northwest Chinese regions of Gansu and Qinghai by an earthquake

At least 116 people were killed by an earthquake that occurred overnight in a chilly, mountainous area of northwest China, according to reports released by the official media on Tuesday.

under the nearby provinces of Qinghai and Gansu, search and rescue activities were in progress. According to media accounts, the earthquake extensively destroyed buildings and roads, knocked off electricity and communication connections, and wounded over 500 people.

The China Earthquake Networks Center said that just before midnight on Monday, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 hit near Gansu at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (six miles). The magnitude was 5.9 according to U.S. Geological Survey measurements.

A spokesman for the province emergency management agency, Han Shujun, said at a press conference that by mid-morning, 105 deaths had been officially reported in Gansu, and 397 injuries had been reported, with 16 of those cases considered serious. State media said that at least 140 people were hurt and eleven more people died in Qinghai.

About 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the epicenter, Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, was among the several places in the surrounding region where the earthquake was felt. A Lanzhou University student shared pictures and videos of people hurriedly exiting a dorm and standing outside wearing heavy down coats over their pajamas.

The student who uploaded the pictures, Wang Xi, said that the earthquake was too strong. “My legs felt weak, especially after running from the dorm downstairs.”

The earthquake occurred near the Jishishan county of Gansu, around 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Qinghai province line. The Chinese capital, Beijing, is located around 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) southwest of the epicenter. About ten hours after the earthquake, at 10 a.m., there had been nine aftershocks, with the strongest one measuring 4.1 in magnitude, according to a Gansu official.

According to state broadcaster CCTV, foldable mattresses, blankets, and tents were being supplied to the disaster area. In order to reduce the number of victims, it cited Chinese Premier Xi Jinping as advocating for a comprehensive search and rescue operation. According to the China Meteorological Administration, the nighttime low in the region was between – 15 and minus 9 degrees Celsius (5 and 16 degrees Fahrenheit).

The People’s Liberation Army Western Theatre established a command post to oversee the efforts of the at least 4,000 firemen, soldiers, and police officers sent to aid in the rescue attempt.

The Gansu spokeswoman, Han, said that the rescue efforts were moving along well and urged the public to stay away from the affected regions of the earthquake in order to avoid causing traffic congestion that may complicate matters.

The Ministry of Emergency Management released a video in which they could be seen attempting to move large chunks of what seemed to be concrete rubble at night with rods while wearing orange uniforms. Other late-night footage released by state media shown rescuers hoisting a casualty out of the way and assisting a man who was tripping a little to walk in a lightly snow-covered region.

According to a Xinhua story, Ma Shijun, a middle school student, fled his dorm barefoot and without even donning a coat. It reported that the powerful tremors had rendered his hands somewhat numb and that the instructors had promptly arranged the pupils on the playground.

According to CCTV, there was damage to the infrastructure related to communications and transportation, as well as water and electrical lines.

In the hilly region of western China that forms the eastern border of the Tibetan plateau, earthquakes occur sometimes.

In September of last year, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck Sichuan, a region in southwest China. The earthquake caused landslides and rocked buildings in Chengdu, the provincial capital, placing 21 million people under a COVID-19 lockdown. At least 74 people were reported dead in the incident.

The worst earthquake to strike China in recent memory occurred in Sichuan in 2008, with a magnitude of 7.9 and approximately 90,000 fatalities. Towns, schools, and rural settlements outside of Chengdu were completely destroyed by the earthquake, which prompted years of work to reconstruct using stronger materials.