Rescuers dig in freezing cold after quake kills 131
Rescuers dug through rubble for a second freezing day on Wednesday after overnight temperatures plunged well below zero, with the death toll in the nation's deadliest earthquake in years rising to 131. Broadcaster CCTV said at least 113 people were killed in Gansu province and 18 more in neighbouring Qinghai after a shallow tremor on Monday night damaged thousands of buildings. The quake was China's deadliest since 2014, when more than 600 people were killed in southwestern Yunnan province. "The treatment and rescue of the injured as well as emergency infrastructure repair are ongoing," CCTV said on Wednesday. The US Geological Survey said Monday night's magnitude-5.9 quake struck at a shallow depth at 11.59pm with an epicentre around 100 kilometres from Gansu's provincial capital, Lanzhou. Dozens of smaller aftershocks followed and officials warned that tremors with a magnitude of more than 5.0 were possible in the next few days. Fears are growing that survivors awaiting rescue could succumb to the bitter cold, with temperatures at the epicentre in Gansu's Jishishan county expected to dip as low as -17 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. Thousands of firefighters and rescue personnel have been sent to the disaster zone and state media said 2,500 tents, 20,000 coats and 5,000 rollaway beds had been sent to Gansu. (AFP)