A powerful earthquake killed at least 118 people in a cold and mountainous region in northwestern China, provincial officials said on Tuesday, in the nation’s deadliest quake in 10 years.
The magnitude 6.2 quake struck in Gansu’s Jishishan county, about 5km (3 miles) from the provincial boundary with Qinghai. The epicentre was about 1,300km (800 miles) southwest of Beijing, the Chinese capital.
There were nine aftershocks by 10am local time, about 10 hours after the initial quake, the strongest one registering a magnitude of 4.1, a Gansu official said.
Nearly 4,000 firefighters, soldiers and police officers were deployed or on standby as part of the rescue effort.
Emergency authorities in Gansu province also issued an appeal for 300 additional workers to comb through collapsed buildings and for other search and rescue operations.
In Qinghai, officials reported 20 people missing in a landslide, according to Chinese state-owned media.