Survivors of the earthquake in China, which according to a new count killed 134 people, took shelter in tents this Wednesday as a cold wave hit the north of the country.

The earthquake struck just before midnight on Monday night, about 1,300 km southwest of Beijing. It had a magnitude of 6.2 according to Xinhua (5.9 according to the United States Geological Survey USGS) and was followed by several aftershocks.

Chinese authorities warned that more earthquakes of magnitude greater than 5 could occur in the coming days.

“The search and rescue operations were completed yesterday,” an official from Gansu’s emergency management agency said at a news conference on Wednesday.

“The main mission now is to care for the injured and relocate the homeless,” he added.

At least 134 people have been killed in the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai, in the northwest of the country, according to public broadcaster CCTV. An earlier balance sheet reported 131 deaths.

He earthquake, which also injured almost 1,000 peopleAccording to the state news agency Xinhua, it is the deadliest since 2014, when more than 600 people were killed in Yunnan (southwest).

AFP journalists saw families sheltering in tents in Jishishan county, Gansu province, near the earthquake epicenter.

People stay in a temporary shelter in the central square of Dahejia, northwestern China’s Gansu province, December 20, 2023. Survivors of China’s deadliest earthquake in years huddled in tents after nighttime temperatures fell well below zero. Photo: AFP

A woman sheltering in one of those tents said she was afraid to return home. “We can’t go back, it’s too dangerous,” he explained, declining to give his name.

“All the bricks and tiles inside could collapse at any time,” he explained.

Pope Francis sent his “thoughts to the victims and wounded of the devastating earthquake” and said he was “close to the suffering population, with affection and prayer.”

In Gansu province alone, 87,000 people were moved to “temporary shelters,” according to CCTV.

For families sleeping outside, the only sources of heat are heaters and blankets hastily retrieved from their homes.

polar temperatures

In Liugou township, residents crowd into large tents set up by local authorities on a basketball court.

Some tents can accommodate up to 35 people, a resident told AFP.

Hopes of finding survivors appear slim about 30 hours after the earthquake, especially as frigid temperatures return to the region.

A woman walks past a collapsed house on December 20, 2023, in Dahejia, China’s northwestern Gansu province, an area hit by a powerful earthquake that left at least 134 dead and more than a thousand injured. Photo: AFP

The temperature in Jishishan is expected to drop to -17 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.

Northern China is in the grip of an unprecedented cold wave. The thermometer dropped to -33.2 ºC in a city in Shanxi province on Tuesday night.

Authorities sent thousands of firefighters and rescue personnel to the affected areas.

According to Chinese state media, 2,500 tents, 20,000 coats and 5,000 folding beds have been sent to Gansu province. (JO)