At least 118 dead & 400 injured after huge 6.2 magnitude earthquake hits China as rescuers brave -13C to find survivors

AT least 118 people have been killed and 400 left injured after a huge 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit northwest China.

Rescuers are scrambling to find survivors in temperatures of -13C after China’s deadliest quake in years struck rural Gansu province.

Alamy

The quake is China’s deadliest since at least 2014[/caption]

AP

The huge quake damaged thousands of homes in northwest China’s Gansu province[/caption]

Reuters

Rescue workers search through rubble in the village of Kangdiao[/caption]

AFP

Survivors are now huddling in bitingly cold -13C temperatures[/caption]

Officials said the shallow quake struck just before midnight 60 miles from Gansu’s provincial capital, Lanzhou – with at least 118 confirmed dead in Gansu and Qinghai so far.

The quake damaged thousands of homes – many of them ramshackle brick structures – and sent residents running into the freezing streets for safety.

Dozens of aftershocks hit the region – and officials warned tremors with a magnitude of more than 5.0 were possible in the next few days.

The quake is China’s deadliest since at least 2014, when more than 600 people died in southwestern Yunnan province.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for “all-out efforts” as search and rescue work got under way early Tuesday.

Temperatures are below freezing in the area, and rescuers should be on guard for secondary disasters, he said, according to CCTV.

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