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- Rescuers are scrambling to find survivors in temperatures of -13C after China’s deadliest quake in years struck rural Gansu province.
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The quake is China’s deadliest since at least 2014Credit: Alamy 
4The huge quake damaged thousands of homes in northwest China’s Gansu provinceCredit: AP 
4Rescue workers search through rubble in the village of KangdiaoCredit: Reuters 
4Survivors are now huddling in bitingly cold -13C temperaturesCredit: AFP 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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People gather round a fire in Gansu after the quake. Pic: AP CCTV reported that water and electricity lines, as well as transportation and communications infrastructure, have been damaged.
Shockwaves were felt in Lanzhou, the Gansu provincial capital, about 1,450 kilometers (900 miles) southwest of the capital of Beijing.
University students there rushed out of their dorms, according to a social media post that had images showing young people standing outside.
Tents, folding beds and quilts were being sent to the disaster area, CCTV said.
Credit:The Sun UK
Rescue workers in Jishishan county, Gansu province. Pic: AP 
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China’s deadliest earthquake in recent years was a 7.9 magnitude quake in 2008 that killed nearly 90,000 people in Sichuan.
It devastated towns, schools and rural communities outside Chengdu, leading to a years-long effort to rebuild with more resistant materials.