Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for efforts to minimize casualties after an impoverished region in the northwest was hit by an earthquake that left more than 100 people dead.
The 6.2-magnitude quake late Monday killed 105 people in Gansu and 11 in neighboring Qinghai, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
About 400 people were injured, thousands of buildings collapsed and some infrastructure were damaged, according to state media.
#UPDATE: Video captured the moment when a 6.2-magnitude earthquake shook Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in NW China’s Gansu on Monday night. The quake can be felt in major cities like Xi’an and Chengdu. pic.twitter.com/CrDeQBbnyO
— People’s Daily, China (@PDChina) Dec. 18, 2023
Xi said officials needed “to go all out to conduct search and rescue operations, treat the injured in a timely manner and minimize casualties,” Xinhua said.
The earthquake occurred in Jishishan county in Gansu, which ranked 27th out of 31 Chinese provinces and municipalities in terms of GDP size in 2022.
Rural Jishishan is some 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Gansu’s capital of Lanzhou. Rescue operations may be complicated by the weather as northern China deals with a cold snap.
Xinjiang, another northwestern region, was struck by a 5.5-magnitude quake on Tuesday with no immediate reports of casualties or damages.
Photograph: Rescue workers search for survivors after an earthquake in Kangdiao village, in Gansu province, in China, on Dec. 19, 2023. Photo credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images
Topics China