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A week after a powerful magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck northwest China's Gansu Province, the local government and volunteer groups are helping restore the badly hit Chenjia Village.

Authorities and residents in the region are striving to restore normalcy and production after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake hit China's northwestern provinces of Gansu and Qinghai on December 18.

China's Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management on Monday allocated another batch of 400 million yuan ($56 million) in disaster relief funds to northwest China's Gansu and Qinghai provinces, with the main focus on relocation, resettlement and compensation for the families of victims killed in the magnitude-6.2 earthquake a week ago.

Primary and secondary schools in Jishishan County, northwest China's Gansu Province began to resume classes on Monday, a week after a magnitude-6.2 quake shook the area and killed 117 people in Gansu and 32 in neighboring Qinghai Province. 

Death toll has risen to 32 in China's Qinghai Province after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted northwest China at midnight on December 18, local authorities said on Monday, adding that operation for two remaining missing people continues.  

China's National Health Commission said on Sunday that it delivered timely and effective medical aid to people in need in the earthquake-stricken region in northwest China and that medical services there have returned to normal.

A magnitude-6.2 earthquake jolted a county in northwest China's Gansu Province at midnight on December 18, killing 148 in Gansu and its neighboring Qinghai Province, according to local authorities on December 22. 

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, spokesman Mi Feng said the commission sent two national emergency medical teams who worked together with medical experts in intensive care, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and psychology, as well as local medical staff, to open a fast-track to ensure concentrated care for all the injured.

According to Mi, the transference of critically injured patients and the provision of psychological counseling to residents in need were carried out safely.

Gansu's provincial health commission said that as of 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, Gansu's hospitals have treated 784 people, of whom 265 remain hospitalized.

Meanwhile, the disaster has injured 198 people in Qinghai as of 10 p.m. on Thursday, with three others still missing, according to China's Xinhua News Agency.

The commission said it would continue offering medical help to the injured in the quake-hit region, monitor for contagious diseases and conduct risk assessments, including drinking water safety checks and sterilization and disinfection, to prevent an epidemic outbreak.

(Cover: Medical workers examine a resident in Dahejia Township, Jishishan County, northwest China's Gansu Province on Dec. 22, 2023. /CFP)

Premier Li Qiang has called for the use of all possible means to improve the living conditions of affected people in earthquake-hit areas in northwest China.

Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Saturday visited several villages in Jishishan County, Gansu Province and Minhe County in the neighboring Qinghai Province.

A magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck the areas at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, leaving 148 people dead and 781 injured as of Friday, and toppling many buildings.

During the visits, the premier talked with people affected by the disaster and learned about the work related to resettlement, relief supplies and the construction of temporary dwellings.

He said the top priority of current relief work was to ensure the affected people stay warm and safe in winter.

He urged relief workers to race against time to send relief supplies and daily necessities to the victims in the settlements, and build temporary houses as fast as possible for those currently living in tents.

Buildings in the quake-hit areas should be checked and reinforced, if needed, so that residents can move back and essential facilities such as schools and hospitals can be reopened, Li said.

Reconstruction should be planned in a coordinated manner to help local people improve their living conditions in order to prevent poverty caused by the disaster, he said.

He urged the best possible medical treatment for those injured in the quake.

The premier also instructed local governments to release disaster relief information in a timely manner and actively respond to the concerns of the affected people.

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Quake recovery underway as express service resumes, schools reopen in Gansu

The orderly recovery and reconstruction continue in northwest China's Gansu Province, where the 6.2-magnitude earthquake occured late Monday. Sufficient supplies were prepared to ensure a warm winter for those affected at the temporary relocation sites.

The first batch of 500 makeshift houses has been completed and delivered to residents in Meipo Village in Jishishan County – the most affected region by the earthquake on Friday night.

The area affected by the earthquake in Jishishan County is expected to construct over 5,000 movable plank houses by December 27, ensuring the local people have a warm winter.

At the resettlement site in Dahe Village, the largest in Jishishan County, express delivery service has been restored to meet residents' needs for special materials, including partially hydrolyzed protein milk powder for newborns with protein allergies.

Supplies bound for the resettlement sites will enter the green channel and be delivered as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the amount of refueling at each gas station in Jishishan County is three times that of the daily amount before the earthquake, mainly for disaster relief vehicles and vehicles transporting supplies.

Local primary, secondary, and high schools in the county have decided to resume classes. Students at the three high schools have had online classes since Tuesday.

Additionally, students at secondary schools and those in grades four to six at primary schools in the county will have online classes starting next Monday.

As of 8 am on Friday, the earthquake death toll had reached 117, with the number of injured persons standing at 781. By Friday noon, the number of relocation sites had reached 311, and 112,346 people had been transferred to safe places, according to the provincial earthquake relief headquarters.

As residents transition from temporary tents to plank houses, the order of life in the resettlement sites will gradually return to normal.

Rescue workers from the Gansu Armed Police Corps delivered food to the children, who reciprocated with salutes and expressions of gratitude towards the armed police. Additionally, they distributed quilts, tents, furnaces and other supplies to the areas affected by the earthquake.

More relief supplies have been distributed to the quake-hit Gansu and Qinghai provinces in northwest China, while more quake-affected families have moved into newly built temporary resettlement sites.

Among them, 1.12 million pieces of relief supplies were delivered to Gansu Province as of 6:00 p.m. on December 22, according to local authorities. Medical treatment has also seen progress there. A temporary medical treatment station, equipped with commonly used medicines, electro-cardiograph machine (ECG) and other monitoring equipment, was built in the past few days to meet the residents' needs.

On the evening of December 18, a magnitude-6.2 earthquake hit Jishishan County, Gansu Province, affecting neighboring Minhe County in Qinghai.

Construction of temporary housing is now ongoing to provide shelter to thousands of families in Gansu and Qinghai provinces. On December 22, authorities said the number of dead in Qinghai rose to 31, while the death toll in Gansu climbed to 117. CGTN reporter Cen Ziyuan has the latest on relief operations from Jishishan County.

At least 148 people were killed and hundreds others injured in the powerful earthquake that struck Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province on Monday, impacting nearby Qinghai Province.

CGTN reporter Cen Ziyuan spoke to Chen Wenkai, director of the Emergency Service Center in the Gansu Provincial Earthquake Administration, about the extent of the damage caused by the quake.

Chen said this is a moderately strong earthquake, adding that locals generally felt that it may be more serious given that the casualties are more than that of a regular magnitude-6.2 earthquake. In his opinion, this is also closely related to the distribution of the population. Observing the aftershocks, the release of energy is concentrated from the epicenter to the north, Chen added.

The magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province late Monday evening has killed 117 people in Gansu and 31 in neighboring Qinghai Province so far, authorities said on Friday.

Authorities in Gansu also declared the conclusion of search operations after confirming that there are no longer missing people in the region. In Qinghai, however, three people remain unaccounted for. 

The strong quake on Monday was followed by several minor aftershocks throughout this week.

Over a thousand people in the two provinces were injured following the disaster.

In Gansu, 282 people were still being treated at hospitals and 17 people were in critical condition. Qinghai authorities said 166 wounded remain hospitalized.

A magnitude-6.2 earthquake jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province on Monday midnight at a depth of 10 kilometers. Many affected residents were relocated to temporary shelters. Numerous individuals spontaneously rushed to the earthquake-stricken area, carrying ingredients and cooking utensils, and providing hot meals for the people in need.

Jiuwu, a rescue dog equipped with a camera, searched for survivors in the quake-hit areas in Haidong City, northwest China's Qinghai Province. 

A magnitude-3.0 earthquake jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province on Friday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

Construction teams rapidly assembled container homes to provide urgent relief for residents displaced by a magnitude-6.2 earthquake that shook northwest China's Gansu Province.

On the evening of December 20, a batch of 54 container homes arrived in Taojia Town in Gansu's hard-hit ethnic county of Jishishan.

As of December 21, all of the makeshift houses that have been erected were connected to the power supply.

The magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted northwest China has killed 31 people in Haidong City, northwest China's Qinghai Province, local authorities said at a press conference on Friday.

Water supply was completely restored on Thursday in Jishishan County, northwest China's Gansu Province, after Monday's earthquake damaged four main rural water supply networks, the local water resources department said.

It added that around 20 water samples tested have been found to be clean.

The magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted northwest China on midnight Monday killed 22 people in Qinghai Province so far, local authorities said on Thursday morning.  

Search and rescue operation is underway in Qinghai as 12 people are still unaccounted for. 

The death toll in Qinghai has brought the total number of people killed due to the strong quake to 135 as another 113 lives were lost in neighboring Gansu Province.

The Chinese authorities are making every effort to ensure smooth delivery of disaster relief materials, stable supply of daily necessities and timely treatment for people injured in the earthquake-hit areas in northwest China's Gansu and Qinghai provinces. As of 8:00 a.m. on December 20, 135,500 relief items had been allocated to local authorities. Medical workers have also reached the affected towns and villages to examine and classify the wounded. The officers and soldiers who went to provide support also made meals and soup for the affected people in the shelters.

The local authorities have arranged safe and warm shelters for the quake-affected villagers in Zhongchuan Township, northwest China's Qinghai Province, 15 kilometers away from the epicenter of the magnitude-6.2 earthquake that struck northwest China at midnight on Monday. 

Nine tents have been set up at one of the shelter points, each capable of accommodating seven people and a stove. A local primary school has also been used to receive over 130 displaced villagers. A medical support team consisting of internal medicine, orthopedics, surgery and psychology specialists has also arrived at the shelter point to provide consultations and treatment for the affected people.

The magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province late Monday evening has killed 113 people in Gansu and 21 in neighboring Qinghai Province, as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said.

Rescuers are now racing against clock to reach 13 others who are still unaccounted for in Haidong City of Qinghai Province. 

In Guandong Village, Guanting Town, Qinghai Province, a Red Cross food truck provides lunch for relocated disaster-affected families.

On Monday, a magnitude-6.2 earthquake jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province. The quake hit 5 kilometers from the border between Gansu and adjacent Qinghai Province.

Nearly 600 medical staff from the People's Hospital in Jishishan County are battling freezing temperatures, exerting all efforts to treat the injured. Gansu Province's earthquake relief team from county to provincial levels includes eight groups for search and rescue, transporting the wounded, medical treatment and epidemic prevention. 

Shortly after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province on Monday night, thick mud, up to three meters high, rolled into Minhe County in neighboring Qinghai Province.

Houses and roads in Jintian and Caotan villages were covered by heavy mud, with some villagers still missing. The Qinghai provincial rescue team organized cleanup and relief work immediately after the incident.

The mudslide completely buried the roads leading into Caotan Village and damaged some houses. The earthquake also broke communications cables, resulting in a power outage. At the entrance to Jintian Village, a road that used to enter the village, a few houses and an empty lot are now covered with mud. Currently, the excavators are running continuously to do digging and clearing work.

The resettlement of villagers is also proceeding in an orderly manner. Families of the missing, accompanied by other family members and government workers, are living in tents closest to the rescue site and waiting for news of their loved ones.

Origin of the mud

There is a ditch next to the affected villages, and it only has little water during the summer and rainy seasons. The water table is relatively high, so the earthquake easily turned all the mud under the ground up, and the mud slid down from the north through the ditch, said Qi Fenyong, an official of Minhe County.

"The ditch is wide in the upper part and narrow in the lower part. At a fork in the road not far from Jintian Village, the width of the road changed from more than 20 meters wide to three or four meters. As the road narrows, mud can no longer pass through, and it builds up and spills over into the villages," he said.

Han Yanyan, a senior engineer at the China Earthquake Networks Center, explains the reasons behind this phenomenon.

"The earthquake will intensely liquefy underground sediment, producing a slurry that eventually ruptured the ground and spewed out, creating the landslide," she said.

This phenomenon is related to the water content of the underground aquifer and the degree of extrusion. "More mud surge does not necessarily mean that a major earthquake is likely to follow, and no mud does not mean it's safe. The appearance of mud is not related to whether there will be an earthquake. It's just a natural phenomenon," Han added.

The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) on Tuesday allocated a second batch of relief materials to the quake-stricken areas in Gansu and Qinghai provinces in northwest China. The batch includes 1,500 cotton tents, 24,900 quilts, 6,250 folding beds and 3,300 family relief packages for the relocation and resettlement of people affected by the disaster, the RCSC said on Wednesday.

The Organization Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has allocated 100 million yuan (about $14.1 million) in funds to assist with disaster relief in quake-hit Gansu and Qinghai provinces in northwest China.

The funding comes from Party fees collected from CPC members and administered by the department on behalf of the CPC Central Committee.

Meanwhile, China's Finance Ministry and Transport Ministry also issued 30 million yuan in tandem for urgent road repairs in Gansu and Qinghai. 

Traffic resumed on all rural highways connecting areas severely affected by the earthquake as of 7 p.m. Tuesday. All expressways, as well as national and provincial trunk roads in Gansu and Qinghai, are now operating smoothly.

On Wednesday, China's Commerce Ministry also said it's organizing nearby provinces to provide commodity supplies to the two quake-hit provinces.

The rescue work has basically ended as of 3 p.m. on Tuesday in quake-hit Gansu Province in northwest China and the focus now is on the treatment of the injured and the resettlement of the affected people, an official said on Wednesday at a press conference on the recent earthquake.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply saddened by the loss of lives, injuries to people and damage to properties caused by an earthquake in China, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.

"He expresses his solidarity with the people and the government of the People's Republic of China and extends his most sincere and deepest condolences to [the families of] the victims, [and] wishes a speedy recovery to those injured," said Dujarric.

Guterres recognizes the efforts being made by the government of China, and the UN team there stands ready to help, he said.

A magnitude-6.2 earthquake jolted northwest China's Gansu and Qinghai provinces on Monday midnight, killing more than 130 people.

The magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province late Monday evening has killed 113 people in Gansu and 18 in neighboring Qinghai Province, authorities said on Wednesday.

The death toll was updated on Wednesday morning, and rescuers are still working to locate more survivors in the extreme cold. 

Apart from the deceased, 198 people were injured in Qinghai, while 16 others remain missing. In Gansu, the number of injured has risen to 782; they were all admitted to hospitals, according to authorities from the two provinces.

Authorities in Gansu also said 87,076 people have been relocated so far in light of the disaster. 

A magnitude-6.2 earthquake jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province and killed 113 people in Gansu and another 14 in the neighboring Qinghai Province on December 18. The quake hit 5km from the border between Gansu and adjacent Qinghai Province.

Aerial footage shows that empty squares in townships have been filled with relief shelters, and the lives of residents in the affected areas are being gradually restored in an orderly manner.

After emergency repairs, the highways and rural roads in quake-hit Gansu and Qinghai provinces in northwestern China reopened on Tuesday night for disaster relief vehicles and rescuers.

Relief materials arrived at a temporary shelter in Dahejia Town in Gansu Province, northwest China, on December 19, following the earthquake the previous night. Food was also provided to local residents, rescuers and soldiers.

China has swiftly deployed high-tech measures, including satellites and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), for emergency rescue after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province at midnight on Monday.

The Land Satellite Remote Sensing Application Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources launched emergency earthquake monitoring after the earthquake.

The center immediately collected and sorted remote sensing images taken by the country's high-resolution Gaofen-2 and Ziyuan-3 satellites before the earthquake and sent pre-disaster data to the rescue frontlines in Gansu and the neighboring Qinghai Province to help with the relief efforts.

China Center for Resources Satellite of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation deployed four satellites to monitor the situation in the earthquake-hit areas.

It has completed the mapping of the affected areas based on the 2-meter-resolution image data obtained by the Gaofen-1B satellite, which covers areas including the county seat of Jishishan, Dahejia Town, Liuji Township and Liugou Township.

Disaster situations, such as landslides, barrier lakes and building collapses, can be monitored through the high-resolution remote sensing images.

Clearer images with submeter-level resolution will be obtained by the center to support relevant departments in analyzing post-disaster rescue.

Aerial rescue support

A Y-20 large transport plane of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Western Theater Command took off at around 9:50 a.m. Bejing Time on Tuesday, sending rescue work teams to the frontlines. It arrived in Lanzhou City in about an hour.

China's independently developed Y-20 is the country's largest military transport aircraft in service. It is mainly used in strategic and tactical military transportation, airborne operations, equipment and material airdropping, and non-war military operations.

The domestically developed Wing Loong-2H UAV has also joined the emergency rescue work.

It departed from southwest China's Sichuan Province at noon on Tuesday and rushed to the earthquake-hit areas to carry out emergency relief missions.

The UAV will conduct tasks including airborne emergency communications support and disaster monitoring, providing strong support for the rescue work.

- A total of 127 people were confirmed dead following the magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted Jishishan County late Monday evening, including 113 in Gansu Province and 14 in neighboring Qinghai Province, authorities said on Tuesday.

- Rescuers are racing against the clock to reach survivors as the temperature dropped to roughly minus 2 degrees Celsius as of 8 p.m.

- Telecommunications service and power have been fully restored in Gansu and Qinghai as of Tuesday night.

A magnitude-6.2 earthquake jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province and killed 113 people in Gansu and another 14 in the neighboring Qinghai Province on December 18. The quake hit 5 kilometers from the border between Gansu and adjacent Qinghai Province. According to Yan Wei, deputy director of the Gansu Blue Sky Rescue Team's rescue center, relief supplies have arrived in Dahejia Town, the area worst hit by the earthquake in Gansu Province's Jishishan County, and the rescue team is setting up 100 tents to resettle villagers.

China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, has allocated 250 million yuan (around $35 million) to earthquake-hit Gansu and Qinghai provinces for reconstruction work, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake jolted the plateau county of Jishishan in northwest China's Gansu Province at midnight Monday, killing 118 people in Gansu and the neighboring Qinghai Province. 

The earthquake took place in an area on a seismic belt that is very active and prone to large earthquakes in history, according to Professor Ma Changqian from the School of Earth Sciences at the China University of Geosciences.

"The county is located on the north-south seismic belt of China. Historically, large earthquakes occurred frequently here," Ma told CGTN.

"The most well-known quake that has occurred on this belt is the Wenchuan Earthquake on May 12, 2008," he said, referring to the 8.0-magnitude earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province, killing nearly 70,000 people and leaving nearly 18,000 missing. "Both quakes are on the same seismic belt but on two different seismic faults."

Ma said that the belt lies between the Eurasian Plate and Indian Plate, two tectonic plates that are pushing against each other, leading to frequent quake activity. He also warned of secondary disasters such as landslides.

According to the International Knowledge Center for Engineering Sciences and Technology under the Auspices of UNESCO, the north-south earthquake belt of China is a dense seismic belt that runs through the Chinese mainland, roughly in the direction of north and south, from northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region through eastern Gansu, western Sichuan, until Yunnan Province in southwest China.

Causes behind casualties

Professor Xu Xiwei from the China University of Geosciences believes that there are three reasons why the quake has caused so many casualties: poor earthquake resistance of residents' houses, relatively dense population in the area and less time for residents to respond as the quake shook at midnight when most people are asleep. 

According to the Blue Sky Rescue Team, China's largest non-governmental humanitarian organization, which sent members for rescue missions, casualties in the densely-populated county center area have not been severe, but the destruction to residents' houses in rural areas is more serious.

"It's very different when an earthquake happens in a rural area compared with that in a city. Most houses in a city are reinforced concrete structures, which can stand on the ground for some time when an earthquake happens. In a rural area, however, most houses are made of earth and wood, which could fall quickly during an earthquake. Such circumstances require faster search and rescue, in just a couple of hours," said Yu Ruofei, head of Blue Sky's Gansu division.

Xinhua News Agency reported the damaged houses, roads and other infrastructure. Several villages suffered power failure and water supply disruption. 

Over 2,000 responders have been sent to help with rescue and relief work. 

Blue Sky members said that the low temperatures in the area have become a major challenge for their operation. Local meteorological authorities forecast the daily low temperature in Jishishan is reported to reach minus 10 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.

(Cover: Rescuers carrying out search and rescue mission in Jishishan Bao'an, Dongxiang, Sala Autonomous County in northwest China's Gansu Province, December 19, 2023. /Gansu Forest Fire Brigade)

China's independently developed Wing Loong-2H large unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has swiftly rushed to support emergency rescue work after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted northwest China's Gansu Province late Monday, according to its developer.

The Wing Loong-2H large civil UAV has rushed to the earthquake-hit areas to carry out rescue missions in response to the call of emergency management authorities, said the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the country's leading planemaker.

The magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted an ethnic county in northwest China's Gansu Province at midnight Monday has killed 113 people in the province, authorities said on Tuesday.

The earthquake has also left 536 injured and damaged 155,393 houses as of 1:00 p.m. Tuesday.

The quake also killed 13 people in the neighboring Qinghai Province.

Professor Liu Kai, associate dean of the School of National Safety and Emergency Management at Beijing Normal University, told CGTN that rescue efforts remain the top priority in earthquake-hit Gansu Province. She added that authorities should also pay attention to preventing secondary disasters, as temperatures in northwest China are quite low in December.

The death toll has risen to 118 from the earthquake in northwest China's Gansu Province late Monday evening. Over 2,000 responders have been sent to help with rescue and relief efforts. CGTN's Guo Tianqi has the latest on the rescue operations from Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu. 

China's independently-developed Wing Loong-2H large unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has swiftly rushed to support emergency rescue work after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted northwest China's Gansu Province late Monday, according to its developer.

The Wing Loong-2H large civil UAV has rushed to the earthquake-hit areas to carry out rescue missions in response to the call of emergency management authorities, said the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the country's leading planemaker.

A Y-20 large transport plane of the PLA Western Theatre Command sent rescue work teams to Lanzhou City after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake hit Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province at a depth of 10 kilometers. Thousands of cotton tents, tens of thousands of cotton coats and quilts and other disaster relief supplies have been sent to the areas where the minimum temperature in the county will reach minus 10 degrees Celsius, according to local meteorological authorities.

The Chinese People's Armed Police Force (PAP) Gansu Corps rushed to the quake-hit areas in Jishishan County for emergency rescue after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake jolted Gansu Province.

At 9:30 a.m. on December 19, the military built a temporary resettlement site for the affected people.

The first batch of relief material arrived at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday in the quake-hit town of Dahejia in Jishishan County, northwest China's Gansu Province to provide makeshift shelters for affected people. Four mobile emergency hospital vehicles have also come to the earthquake zone.

Power has been restored to 88.36 percent of users in quake-hit Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province and power supply in the county is stable, State Grid said on Tuesday.

A magnitude-6.2 quake struck northwest China's Gansu Province at midnight on Monday. At 8:46 a.m., two trapped people were rescued and transferred by rescue workers in the fourth community of Dahejia Village, Dahejia Town in Jishishan County, the area worst hit by the earthquake. Rescue efforts are underway.

The magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province late Monday evening has killed 13 people and injured 182 others in neighboring Qinghai Province, according to China Media Group on Tuesday.

Search and rescue and relief work is underway on Tuesday after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province at a depth of 10 kilometers, killing at least 118 people and damaging local infrastructure.

The quake, which hit at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, was followed by 306 aftershocks, with the largest registering a magnitude of 4.1 as of noon on Tuesday. According to the local departments at a press conference on the earthquake on the same day, strong aftershocks measuring up to a magnitude 5 are still possible in the coming days.

So far, the earthquake has killed 105 people in Gansu and 13 people in neighboring Qinghai Province. It has damaged houses, roads and other infrastructure. Several villages in the county have suffered power failure and water supply disruption.

China has upgraded the national earthquake emergency response to Level II, the second highest in its four-tier system, and has dispatched a work team and thousands of rescuers, including 1,440 firefighters, armed police and hundreds of doctors to the quake-affected areas, with another 1,603 firefighters already assembled and ready for cross-regional reinforcements. Forty-five people have been rescued as of 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

Thousands of cotton tents, tens of thousands of cotton coats and quilts and other disaster relief supplies have been sent to the areas where the daily minimum temperature in the county will reach minus 10 degrees Celsius, according to local meteorological authorities. 

After the earthquake, parts of the local power system broke down, affecting 34,070 users. After four hours of all-out repairs, power was restored to 12,991 users as of 5 a.m. on Tuesday.

Emergency rescue channels have been opened to ensure the free and rapid passage of rescue vehicles. According to the Ministry of Transport, cracks have appeared on National Highway 310, and rescue and small vehicles are currently passing normally. However, large vehicles are prohibited.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management allocated 200 million yuan (about $28 million) in relief funds to the Gansu and Qinghai provinces to support local disaster relief work.

China's Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Emergency Management on Tuesday allocated 200 million yuan in natural disaster relief funds to quake-hit Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, including 150 million yuan for Gansu and 50 million yuan for Qinghai, to support local earthquake relief efforts.

The first batch of relief material arrived in quake-hit Dahejia town, Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province, to provide makeshift shelters for affected people.

The magnitude-6.2 earthquake that jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province late Monday evening has killed 105 people in the province, governmental authorities said on Tuesday. 

China has upgraded the national earthquake emergency response to Level II after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake jolted northwest China on December 18, killing more than 110 people.

The quake jolted Jishishan County in Gansu Province, five kilometers from the border between Gansu and Qinghai provinces. The earthquake so far has killed 100 people in Gansu and 11 people in neighboring Qinghai.

When a magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck just before midnight on Monday, Ma Shijun, a student at Dahejia Middle School in the plateau county of Jishishan in northwest China's Gansu Province, ran out of the dormitory barefoot without grabbing a coat.

With temperatures plummeting below minus 10 degrees Celsius, Ma found his hands slightly numb in the cold as teachers promptly organized students to seek refuge on the playground.

"Seeing more and more rescuers arriving, I find myself less frightened than I was when the earthquake first struck," said Ma.

As of 9 a.m. on Wednesday, the death toll in Gansu stood at 113, with 782 more injured. And the quake has also taken the lives of 18 people and wounded 198 others in the neighboring Qinghai Province, where 16 more still remain missing, local authorities said on Wednesday morning.

Immediately after the quake, President Xi Jinping urged all-out search and rescue efforts and proper arrangements for affected people to ensure the safety of people's lives and property.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, instructed local authorities to rescue and treat those injured promptly to minimize casualties and closely monitor the earthquake situation and weather changes to prevent secondary disasters.

Read more: 

Live updates: At least 110 killed after powerful quake in NW China

Rapid emergency response

In his instruction, Xi stressed the importance of organizing the allocation of rescue and relief supplies as soon as possible and repairing damaged infrastructure facilities such as electricity, telecommunications, transportation and heating.

The State Council has sent a working group to the stricken regions to help guide relief work. Gansu and Qinghai provinces have organized relief support with the immediate allocation of relief supplies such as camps and folding beds to the affected areas.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the People's Armed Police Force (PAPF) have deployed multiple rescue forces to quake-hit areas.

According to the PLA Western Theater Command, at 4 a.m. on Tuesday, around 300 troops from the command arrived in Jishishan County, the epicenter of the earthquake and the hardest-hit area. They were tasked with missions that involved searching for victims, rescue operations and roadway clearing.

Meanwhile, the PAPF Gansu Corps has mobilized over 300 officers and soldiers and deployed more than 40 vehicles to Jishishan. Their tasks included searching for and rescuing individuals, facilitating the transfer of the injured, clearing obstructed roadways and establishing tents as shelters.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, announced Tuesday that it has earmarked 250 million yuan (about $35.2 million) of investment from the central budget for quake-hit areas in Gansu and Qinghai provinces to support the emergency restoration and construction of infrastructure and public service facilities.

Relief efforts continue

The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) has initiated its Level II emergency response and dispatched task forces to the affected areas. A mechanism for emergency coordination in northwest China has also been activated, and search and rescue teams, medical teams and disaster relief teams have been deployed, said the RCSC.

In addition, the National Health Commission announced on Tuesday that a team of medical experts has been dispatched to assist the affected region. The commission has coordinated emergency medical teams from various regions, including Sichuan, Shaanxi and Ningxia, to contribute to rescue efforts in both Gansu and Qinghai.

In the town of Dahejia, one of the worst-hit areas by the quake, more than 900 people have been temporarily sheltered in more than 100 tents, with access to food, water and medical resources.

Yan Wei, deputy director of the Gansu branch of the Blue Sky Rescue Team, was among the first responders who had made it to the town hours after the quake.

"About 70 to 80 percent of the houses in the town have been damaged," Yan told CGTN. "Roads have caved in some areas."

He said different kinds of rescue resources were pouring in. Local officials have offered coats and thermal equipment, among others, to those affected by the disaster, he added.

China has upgraded the national earthquake emergency response to Level II after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake jolted northwest China late Monday evening.

The quake jolted Jishishan County in northwest China's Gansu Province, five kilometers from the border between Gansu and Qinghai provinces. So far, it has reportedly killed 100 people in Gansu and 11 in neighboring Qinghai.

The earthquake relief headquarters of China's State Council and the Ministry of Emergency Management have dispatched a work team to the earthquake-stricken areas.

The Gansu and Qinghai provinces have organized relief support, including the immediate allocation of relief supplies such as camps and folding beds to the affected areas.