BEIJING: A magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck one of China’s rural regions just before midnight on Monday, killing at least 127 people.

Chinese state media arriving at the sixth commune of Dahe village, one of the worst-hit areas in China’s northwestern Gansu province, found many houses were either at risk of collapse, or had already crumbled to the ground, especially homes built from earth and clay.

“I’ve lived for more than 80 years and had never seen such a big earthquake,” said an old man who was being carried out of his damaged home by rescuers. More than 155,000 homes in Gansu were either damaged or destroyed.

At 11:59pm on Monday, the quake rocked Gansu’s Jishishan county, at a depth of 10km. The epicentre was 5km from the provincial border straddling Gansu and Qinghai.

Authorities have mobilised an array of emergency responses after the quake wrecked roads and infrastructure, triggered landslides, and half buried a village in silt.

But rescue work has proved challenging in sub-zero temperatures, after a powerful cold snap swept across the country.

Race against the cold

As the disaster area is in a high-altitude region where the weather is cold, rescue efforts are working to prevent secondary disasters caused by factors beyond the quake, Xinhua said The temperature in Linxia, Gansu, near where the quake occurred, was about minus 14 degrees Celsius on Tuesday morning.

Pakistan shares grief

President Arif Alvi expressed deep grief and sorrow over the loss of precious human lives in China due to earthquake.

“I would like to extend my sincere sympathy and heartfelt condolences on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan with the bereaved families and people and leadership of China,” he said.

“We share the grief and sorrow of our Chinese brothers and sisters and stand with them in this hour of grief,” President Alvi added.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2023