At the stroke of midnight, an earthquake shook a mountainous area of Gansu, in northwest China, causing at least 118 deaths and 397 injuries. There are more than twenty missing, while 4,700 homes have been destroyed. In such a way that the haste of the rescue teams, who have worked throughout the night with flashlights, at fourteen degrees below zero, is also a race against death by frostbite.
The earthquake, measuring 6.2 degrees, has awakened thousands of people, forcing them to rush out of their homes, mainly in a region located at more than two thousand meters above sea level. The most affected area is the autonomous county of Jishishan, with a population of a quarter of a million inhabitants, two thirds of whom belong to Muslim minorities, called Hui, Bonan, Dongxiang and Salar.
The epicenter is 1,300 kilometers from Beijing and 100 from the provincial capital, Lanzhou. There have been more than one hundred and forty aftershocks and, nine hours later, another tremor, measuring 5.5 degrees, has frightened the population of Xinjian, in the extreme south-west of China, without causing any casualties.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on rescue teams to do everything possible for the safety of survivors and their property. Of the total of 118 deaths recorded so far, 11 would correspond to the municipality of Haidonng, in the province of Qinghai, bordering Gansu.
The loss of thousands of roofs represents a serious setback in a region where temperatures are already several degrees below zero, even before winter begins. Along with an emergency budget of 2.5 million euros, the provincial government has shipped a thousand stoves, 10,400 blankets and as many folding beds, in addition to 2,600 tents.
Likewise, one of the bridges that crosses the Yellow River in the area would have suffered cracks due to the earthquake, to which several landslides should be added.
The governor of Gansu and the general secretary of the Communist Party in the province have gone to the scene of the disaster. Medical personnel from the best hospitals in the area have also been sent.
It is the deadliest earthquake in China since the 2010 Yushu earthquake. The strongest recorded since then, with 6.6 degrees and a hundred deaths, also took place in Gansu.
A person who lives near the epicenter, named Qin, has told television how towers of more than fifteen floors have withstood the tremor: "We live on the 16th floor and the feeling was as if we were sailing and were being shaken by the waves. "I woke up the family and we went down the stairs to the street in one breath." Twelve degrees below zero awaited them in the open. Some neighbors had escaped with nothing more than their shorts. For this reason, Xi has urged civil protection to quickly accommodate the survivors.
The area is at alert level 2, so several hundred soldiers have been mobilized, reaching the scene of the disaster at 4 in the morning, to clear the roads of obstacles, among other tasks. Likewise, 2,440 firefighters have been sent as reinforcement, adding to the 1,600 from Gansu and surrounding areas.
The Seismic Alert Service could only warn the authorities of the two most affected districts twenty-twelve seconds in advance, completely insufficient at a time when the majority of the population was sleeping or indoors, which would have increased casualties. . However, authorities say cell phones and televisions equipped with alarm applications would have worked.
