100 dead due to China's deadliest earthquake in nearly a decade

Official media reported on Tuesday that at least 118 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured after an earthquake struck northwest China, while rescue teams rushed to reach survivors in sub-zero temperatures.

The earthquake, the deadliest in China in nearly a decade, rocked Jixishan County in Gansu Province late Monday night, damaging homes and roads.

  Rescuers rushed to search for survivors trapped under the rubble, while residents rushed outside and huddled throughout the night in the bitter winter cold.

Local authorities said in a press conference that as of Tuesday morning, the earthquake had killed 105 people, injured 397 others, and damaged more than 4,700 homes in Gansu.

In neighboring Qinghai province, 13 people were killed, 182 others were injured, and 20 others were still missing as of noon, according to local officials.

Location of the earthquake

The earthquake occurred shortly before midnight while many were sleeping in their homes. It reached a magnitude of 5.9 at a shallow depth of just over 6 miles, according to the US Geological Survey. The China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) gave a slightly higher reading of 6.2.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located near the border between Gansu and Qinghai, a mountainous region on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The earthquake was followed by nine aftershocks of magnitude 3 or above until the morning, according to the National Center for Environmental Planning.

Cutting off water and electricity supplies

Some village houses in Gansu and Qinghai collapsed into rubble, and firefighters pulled survivors from under the rubble in the dark, CCTV footage showed.

The earthquake also cut off water and electricity supplies as well as mobile phone signals in some areas, complicating rescue efforts.

At least 4,000 firefighters, police officers and soldiers were sent to the disaster zone in Gansu, along with thousands of tents, folding beds, quilts and portable fire pits, according to provincial officials.

Bitter temperatures

In the center of Jishan, a district of about 260,000 people, many rushed from their homes to seek safety in open areas. Videos and photos posted on state media and social media show families huddled together, wrapped in thick blankets, in a public square.

China's Xi Jinping urged authorities on Tuesday to "make all-out efforts" to search for survivors and treat the injured, noting that the disaster occurred in a high-altitude area with cold weather, according to the New China News Agency (Xinhua).

Xinhua reported that China's Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Emergency Management allocated 200 million yuan ($28 million) of natural disaster relief funds to the two provinces hit by the earthquake.

China is no stranger to strong earthquakes, especially in the southwestern parts of the country where the Eurasian tectonic plate meets the Indian plate, a dramatic collision that creates the great Himalayas and the vast Tibetan Plateau.