Death toll mounts to 134 in China's quake-hit areas as survivors wait anxiously for rescuers to save kin caught in rubble

The epicentre of Liugou Township is about 8 km from the county seat of the Bonan-Dongxiang-Salar Autonomous County of Jishishan in Gansu Province.

China has stepped up rescue and relief work in the earthquake-hit areas of Gansu and Qinghai provinces in the country’s northwest where the death toll on Wednesday climbed to 134 with 980 others injured.

Amidst the biting cold, rescuers were making frantic efforts to pull those who were still stuck under the rubble of collapsed structures. Monday's 6.2-magnitude earthquake killed 113 people and injured 782 others in Gansu Province, officials told media in Jishishan county, which witnessed widespread destruction. The earthquake, the worst in nine years, also has claimed 21 lives in neighbouring Qinghai Province, with 31 people still missing and 198 others injured, local authorities said.

A total of 14,939 homes had collapsed and 2,07,204 homes were damaged, affecting 1,45,736 people from 37,162 households in Gansu, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Over 4,500 rescuers from the provincial public security department, fire department, and the military, as well as more than 820 vehicles, were dispatched to the disaster area to search every corner for survivors. A total of 87,076 people from 20,457 households have been temporarily relocated to safe places. In Qinghai province nestled in the hills north-east of Tibet region, survivors were anxious as rescuers approached the remote villages to pull the people buried under the rubble of their buildings.

"My family assured me that they were safe after the earthquake, but now they are all buried," a man surnamed Yang in Jintian village of Zhongchuan Township in northwest China’s Qinghai Province told Xinhua. "We cannot stop," Wang Lyu, deputy head of the Qinghai team of China’s National Fire and Rescue Administration, who headed a 157-member team of rescuers, said while looking with red eyes at those waiting for miracles. "They will have hope for as long as we are here," he said. Among the villagers watching at the site, the emotional Yang pointed at a two-storey building, saying that his family ran into the yard after the quake, and were then buried unexpectedly when the sand boil struck.

"My granny, my mom, my aunt, and a toddler are all buried," he said. "We only know that they are here, but have no idea of the exact location." By the time dusk fell in the village, the temperature had already dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius. Zhang Xiaoqiang, the Communist Party chief of Zhongchuan, told the media that despite the efforts of local cadres to persuade them to leave, some villagers insisted on staying outside a tent erected to provide shelter, choosing instead to wait for updates from rescuers while they sobbed out in the cold.

In Gansu province, emergency relief materials such as tents, quilts, folding beds and moisture-proof mats have been urgently allocated. Steamed buns, instant noodles, and other food and living materials have been sent to the affected people to ensure they have enough food and to protect them from the cold, Han Shujun with the provincial emergency management department, told the media. According to the China Earthquake Networks Centre, the quake occurred at 11:59 pm Monday, with a focal depth of 10 km.

The epicentre of Liugou Township is about 8 km from the county seat of the Bonan-Dongxiang-Salar Autonomous County of Jishishan in Gansu Province. A survey of post-earthquake geological disaster risks was conducted collaboratively by various departments. Production was halted at all mines within the earthquake-affected areas and people around there were evacuated. The operation of 89 water conservancy facilities remained normal, the Xinhua report said. The local meteorological bureau said that, from December 20 to January 2, the lowest temperature in the earthquake-hit county is expected to range from minus 10 degrees Celsius to minus 14 degrees Celsius.

In the city of Haidong, Qinghai Province, which was severely affected by the earthquake, an investigation of 816 schools has been completed and more than 50 local schools have been damaged to different degrees, according to local authorities. The department has also opened hotlines for psychological assistance, financial assistance, and postgraduate entrance exam inquiries for students.