Media reports said today morning that he death toll of a 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck China’s Gansu and Qinghai provinces climbed to 131 on Wednesday as rescue operations continued amid bitter cold conditions.
Relief supplies have reportedly begun arriving in Gansu, where 113 people were killed, and Qinghai, where 18 fatalities have been recorded so far.
EFE reports that according to the authorities, a total of 734 people are injured and around 20 missing.
The earthquake was reportedly recorded at 11:59 pm on Monday night and according to the China Earthquake Networks Center, the quake had its epicenter 10 kilometers deep on the border between the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai.
The county of Jishisan in Gansu and the city of Haidong in the neighboring Qinghai have been the worst affected.
The earthquake reportedly damaged or caused the collapse of more than 155,000 houses and also affected water, power, telecommunications and transportation services.
Monday’s earthquake was the deadliest to strike China since a quake in the western province of Yunnan left 617 dead in August 2014.
