China earthquake – live: At least 126 dead as ‘golden window’ for survival shrunk by freezing conditions

At least 126 people are dead and around 700 injured after an earthquake struck a mountainous region of northwestern China.

Rescue workers are braving sub-zero temperatures as a search and rescue operation is underway in Gansu and neighboring Qinghai provinces.

The earthquake struck at 11.59pm (4pm GMT) at a shallow depth of 10km, triggering landslides and causing extensive damage.

Icy weather conditions have shortened the “golden window” to find quake survivors, Shi Wanjin, a captain of the Gansu Houtian Emergency Rescue Corps, said.

It was followed by a second 5.5 magnitude earthquake hours later in neighbouring Xinjiang.

The earthquake damaged nearly 5,000 houses and knocked out power, communications and water lines, while roads were also badly impacted.

President Xi Jinping said “all efforts should be made to carry out search and rescue, treat the injured in a timely manner, and minimise casualties”.

China’s finance ministry and emergency management ministry jointly allocated 200m yuan (£22.1m) for the earthquake-hit Gansu and Qinghai provinces, CCTV reported.

Key Points

• Death toll climbs to 126 as search continues for missing

• Rescue official says ‘golden window’ to find quake survivors shortening

• Death toll rises to 118

• Authorities racing to save survivors after 6.2-magnitude earthquake

• China’s Xi Jinping calls for ‘all out’ efforts in earthquake-hit regions

Rescue official says ‘golden window’ to find quake survivors shortening

07:01 , Shweta Sharma

Icy weather conditions have shortened the “golden window” to find quake survivors, Shi Wanjin, a captain of the Gansu Houtian Emergency Rescue Corps, said.

“The golden rescue time of this earthquake will be shortened,” Mr Shi was quoted as saying by China News network.

He said it was due to the scale of the devastation and weather conditions in the area.

Death toll climbs to 126 as search continues for missing

10:29 , Shweta Sharma

The number of deaths from China’s deadliest earthquake in over a decade has increased to 126 with 700 reported injured.

Authorities said more than 155,000 homes in Gansu were either damaged or destroyed in the powerful earthquake.

Emergency workers are preparing to provide makeshift accommodation and meals to those displaced by the disaster as thousands of residents brace to spend the night in icy weather conditions.

In Gansu, 113 were killed as of 1pm Tuesday (5am GMT), and 536 injured, authorities said.

The death tally in Qinghai rose to at least 13 with 182 injured.

Officials said the search for 20 missing people is continuing.

Chinese soldiers set up mobile kitchen to provide hot meals

10:10 , Shweta Sharma

Chinese soldiers have set up mobile kitchens in quake-hit Gansu province to provide freshly cooked meals to those rendered homeless by the disaster.

A video shared by the Global Times showed soldiers working in the makeshift kitchen.

Houses collapse after 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit China

09:00 , Shweta Sharma

China’s deadliest earthquake in 15 years

08:26 , Shweta Sharma

The 6.2 magnitude earthquake was China’s deadliest since 2008 when a much more powerful 7.9-magnitude quake struck Sichuan, killing more than 90,000.

It prompted a years-long struggle by authorities to rebuild the town with more resistant materials.

In September last year, at least 74 people were killed in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in the southwestern province of Sichuan. It caused landslides and shaking buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu, where 21 million residents were under a Covid-19 lockdown.

Pakistan’s prime minister extends condolences to China

08:09 , Shweta Sharma

Pakistan’s interim prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kaka said they are “deeply saddened” to learn about the earthquakes in northwestern China.

“Deeply saddened to learn about the loss of precious lives due to the earthquake in Gansu province in China. Our sympathies are with our Chinese brothers and sisters in this hour of grief,” Mr Kakar said,

Earthquakes triggered landslides and half buried a village in silt

07:51 , Shweta Sharma

The massive earthquake that jolted northwest China late yesterday night caused several earthquakes, cutting off towns from roads and highways.

Authorities said some people are missing following a landslide in Qinghai. The mudslide in a village left many houses half-covered in brown silt.

Rescuers have deployed drones, excavators and bulldozers to find and rescue survivors, local media reported.

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.

A major hydropower dam 50km from the epicentre was unaffected by the quake. CCTV reported that the dam, on the upper Yellow River, was operating normally.

Officials say 580 injured as thousands of relief workers rushed to disaster frontline

07:41 , Shweta Sharma

Officials in the earthquake-hit provinces said hundreds of people have been injured, with the toll standing at 379 in Gansu and 182 in Qinghai, a number of whome remain in critical condition.

Some 20 people are still missing as emergency workers scrambled to pull out survivors from the rubble.

About 2,200 personnel from the Gansu provincial fire department and 900 from the forest brigade, as well as 260 professional emergency rescue workers, were dispatched to the disaster zone, the Xinhua news agency reported, adding that hundreds from the military and police were also deployed.

The province has been allocated 20m yuan ($2.8m) for emergency response work and sent supplies that included 2,600 cotton tents, 10,400 folding beds, 10,400 quilts, 10,400 cotton mattresses, and 1,000 sets of stoves.

Chinese Air Force rushes soldiers to earthquake site

07:18 , Shweta Sharma

China’s PLA Western Theater Command sent Y-20 transport aircraft to Lanzhou, capital of Gansu today to deliver soldiers to the frontline of the disaster.

The emergency command group is expected to help local authorities in relief and rescue work as officials said a crucial window is closing due to harsh weather conditions.

Xian Y-20 is a strategic airlifter and large military transport aircraft developed by China for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).

It is among the largest military transport aircraft in the world.

Why earthquake in impoverished provinces is a challenge for China

06:32 , Shweta Sharma

Gansu, categorised as one of China’s least affluent provinces, has houses constructed with clay and mud, according to experts and local authorities.

The houses are not constructed robustly enough to withstand earthquakes, and the severity of the damage was exacerbated by the fact that the quake struck late at night, likely making it more challenging for people to escape.

The area consists mainly of small townships and villages, with approximately 260,000 residents in Jishishan County, according to a local official cited by party-affiliated media.

An official, Li Yong, said that the local government lacked sufficient supplies of clothing, quilts, and shoes and would need support from the provincial government.

In 2020, as part of a nationwide initiative to ostensibly eliminate rural poverty by the year’s end, provincial authorities officially declared that Jishishan was no longer considered “poverty-stricken”. However, people say little changed on the ground in practice.

Gansu encompasses regions situated in an earthquake-prone zone stretching from Mongolia in the north to Myanmar in the south.

As the disaster area is in a high-altitude region where the weather is cold, rescue efforts are working to prevent secondary disasters caused by factors beyond the quake, Xinhua said.

The weather was the largest difficulty in the rescue efforts, local media said, citing a local disaster response expert.

Although the 72 hours after a quake are the most likely time to rescue survivors, that will be shortened by the harsh weather, with trapped victims facing the higher risk, it said.

China’s Xi Jinping calls for ‘all out’ efforts in earthquake-hit regions

06:14 , Shweta Sharma

Chinese president Xi Jinping called for “full-scale search and rescue efforts” and asked local authorities for proper resettlement of affected people.

He said “all efforts should be made to carry out search and rescue, treat the injured in a timely manner, and minimise casualties”.

Earthquake 'felt like being tossed up after surging waves’, survivor says

06:09 , Shweta Sharma

Recounting the moments when the earthquake struck, a man said his family rushed down to 16 floors after they felt strong tremors.

“I live on the 16th floor and felt the tremors so strongly. The moment of the earthquake was feeling like being tossed up after surging waves… I woke my family up and we rushed down all 16 floors in one breath,” the Gansu resident said.

He said it was freezing cold at -12C when they stepped out and saw their panicked neighbours, some of whom had rushed outside without warm clothing.

Residents said they spent the night in their cars, driving away from the epicentre.

At least 118 killed by earthquake in northwestern China

05:49 , Shweta Sharma

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake has killed 118 people and injured another 500 in a mountainous region of northwestern China on Monday night.

The earthquake struck at 11.59pm (4pm GMT) at a shallow depth of 10km in Gansu province and neighbouring Qinghai province, the China Earthquake Networks Centre said.

It was followed by a second 5.5 magnitude earthquake hours later in neighbouring Xinjiang.

Read our full report.

At least 116 killed by earthquake in northwestern China

Taiwan’s president offers assistance to China

05:46 , Shweta Sharma

Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen expressed condolences to China on the devastating earthquake and said Taiwan was willing to provide assistance to China.

“My sincere condolences to all those who have lost loved ones in the recent earthquake in northwestern China,” she said in a tweet.

“We pray that all those affected receive the aid they need, and we hope for a swift recovery. Taiwan stands ready to offer assistance in the disaster response effort.”

$28m allocated for earthquake relief in Gansu

05:44 , Shweta Sharma

China‘s finance ministry and emergency management ministry have allocated 200m yuan ($28m) in natural disaster relief funds.

State television CCTV reported that the funds will be used in earthquake-hit Gansu and Qinghai provinces.

Residents forced to endure freezing weather in open

05:29 , Shweta Sharma

Families in the earthquake-hit region are being forced to huddle in the open or in makeshift tents in sub-zero weather conditions after thousands of houses were damaged and the threat of aftershocks continued.

Social media users at the earthquake site shared accounts of creating bonfires in their yards or burning cardboard boxes to stay warm. They described the shock of discovering the deaths of their neighbours and relatives as they tried to assess the damage to their homes.

The temperature in Linxia, Gansu, near where the quake occurred, was about -14C on Tuesday morning.

Tents, folding beds and quilts were being sent to the disaster area with makeshift accommodation being set up for those rendered homeless, CCTV said.

Death toll rises to 118

05:12 , Shweta Sharma

The death toll from the powerful earthquake has climbed to 118 and 20 people are missing.

The number of fatalities is expected to climb further as rescue workers continue work with the day break while several remain critically injured.

Authorities have mobilised an array of emergency responses, but rescue work could prove challenging in subzero temperatures. Most of China is grappling with freezing temperatures as a cold wave that started last week continued to sweep through the country.

In Gansu, 105 were killed in the quake as of 7.50am today (2350 GMT Monday), and of 397 injured as of 9.30am, 16 were in critical condition, provincial authorities told a news conference.

The death tally in Qinghai rose to at least 13 with 182 injured, state media reported.

CCTV footage shows moment powerful earthquake struck

05:12 , Shweta Sharma

CCTV footage from inside a store in Gusan showed furniture shaking just before midnight as the earthquake struck.

The video shared by People’s Daily China also shows the aftermath of the tremblor with debris strewn across roads and towns.

Other nighttime videos distributed by state media showed workers lifting out a victim and helping a slightly stumbling person to walk in an area covered with light snow.

Authorities racing to save survivors after 6.2-magnitude earthquake

04:55 , Shweta Sharma

Emergency workers are scrambling to reach survivors in sub-zero temperatures in China’s Gansu and Qinghai provinces after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake flattened houses and killed scores of people.

At least 116 people have died and 500 others are injured, including several in critical condition, after the earthquake struck towns as people slept or prepared for the night.

The epicentre was about 1,300km (800 miles) southwest of Beijing, the Chinese capital.

04:39 , Shweta Sharma

Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the deadly earthquake in China’s Gansu and Qinghai provinces.