The death toll from China’s earthquake has risen to 138, with almost 1,000 people injured, as rescuers dig through rubble in below freezing conditions.
The magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck just before midnight on Monday, in Jishishan county near the border of Gansu and Qinghai provinces, destroying or damaging more than 150,000 homes, according to state media. The quake, which was followed by several strong aftershocks, caused mud and landslides, and damaged power lines and other local infrastructure “to varying degrees”.
On Wednesday morning authorities said the official death toll had risen to 131 in Gansu with 782 injured, and 18 dead and 198 injured in Qinghai.
Amid a days-long cold wave sweeping across most of China, the high-altitude area in China’s north-west reported temperatures as low as -16C, hampering rescue efforts.
The frigid temperatures are expected to continue in the region but many residents are too afraid to return home, instead huddling around fires in open spaces.
“I just feel anxious, what other feelings could there be?” said Ma Dongdong, who noted in a phone interview with AFP that three bedrooms in his house had been destroyed and a part of his milk tea shop was cracked wide open.
Afraid to return home because of aftershocks, he spent the first night in a field with his wife, two children and some neighbours, where they made a fire to stay warm. In the early morning, they went to a tent settlement that Ma said was housing about 700 people. As of mid-afternoon, they were waiting for blankets and warm clothing to arrive.
People gather next to a fire in Dahejia, Jishishan county, after the earthquake
Rescue workers carry an injured person on a stretcher at Dahejia town after the earthquake
The Gansu Provincial Seismological Bureau said strong aftershocks of magnitude 5 were still possible around the area in the coming days, based on the characteristics of the Monday quake, historical seismic activity and other factors.
Li Haibing, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, said that the relatively high number of casualties in the latest quake was in part because it was shallow. “Therefore, it has caused greater shaking and destruction, even though the magnitude was not large,” he said.
Other factors include the quake’s mainly vertical movement, which causes more violent shaking; the lower quality of buildings in what is a relatively poor area; and the fact that it happened in the middle of the night when most people were home, Li said.
The remote and mountainous area is home to several predominantly Muslim ethnic groups and near some Tibetan communities. Geographically, it is in the centre of China, though the area is commonly referred to as the north-west, as it is at the north-western edge of China’s more populated plains.
Within 50km of the epicentre on the side of neighbouring Qinghai province, the earthquake affected 22 towns and villages, but of them, two villages suffered the worst damage.
On social media, discussion of the earthquake and rescue response were five of the top 10 trending topics on Weibo, with hundreds of millions of posts focusing primarily on the rescue efforts and volunteers attending the area with food and other assistance.
When the former Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha delivered his New Year message back in 1967, he pulled the cord marked “truth bomb”. “This year will be harder than last year,” he declared. “It will, however, be easier than next year.” I mean … on the one hand: thanks for not sugar-coating it, Enver. On the other: way to kill the party buzz, you monster!
I don’t want to murder the atmosphere (or indeed any dissidents) by reminding you of the news year you’ve just lived through – or by warning you of the news year you’re about to live through. It’s not big, it’s not clever, and it’s sure as heck not seasonal.
But I will say, pointedly, that our reporting feels particularly necessary in dark times. If you can, please help support the Guardian on a monthly basis from just $2, so as to keep it open for everyone. I can’t tell you how much it would be appreciated. A free press is needed now as much as it has ever been – and on some days, more than it has ever been.
In return for this support, I am formally* bestowing upon you the right to refer to yourself – in conversation, in the pub, and on any business cards you may care to have printed up – as “a newspaper baron”. Face it: if you pay to support a news organisation, then you ARE to all intents and purposes a newspaper baron. Just enjoy it! All the others do.
With that, it simply remains is for me to wish you a very happy holidays, and a splendid new year. Goodness knows you’ve earned it.
