Over 100 Killed in China’s Deadly Earthquake

At least 118 people in north-west China have been killed in the country’s deadliest earthquake in 13 years.

The 6.2 magnitude quake hit the mountainous Gansu province around midnight Monday, also shaking neighboring Qinghai.

Fatalities may rise with hundreds reported injured in icy conditions.

Chinese president Xi Jinping has ordered thousands of rescue crew to the region, among the poorest and most diverse in China.

On Tuesday, footage shown on state tv, and social media networks showed entire villages split by the quake, as well as collapsed buildings and houses.

Last September, more than 60 people were killed when a 6.6-magnitude quake hit Sichuan province.

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The Gansu earthquake is the deadliest China has seen since the devastating 2010 quake in Yushu, which claimed almost 2,700 lives.

Tremors were felt as far as 1,000 km away in central Henan province, where local media outlets shared videos of furniture swaying in people’s homes.

Woken up by the quake, residents left their buildings and drove to open areas for safety, local media outlet Jimu reported, showing a photo of people huddled in thick blankets outdoors.

Preliminary analysis shows that the quake was a thrust-type rupture, one of three above magnitude 6 to have struck within 200 km of the epicentre since 1900. The state media reported at least 32 aftershocks in the hour after the quake hit.

Gansu officials told reporters that the last strong quake of at least magnitude 5.0 to hit within 100 km of the epicentre was in 2019.

A total of nine aftershocks at magnitude 3.0 and above were recorded by Tuesday morning, two of which were at least 4.0 in magnitude.

About 3,000 km from Jishishan in Xinjiang region, another earthquake struck at 9:46 a.m. (0146 GMT) Tuesday, with a magnitude of about 5.5 and at a depth of 10 km.