At least 120 people were killed and many others were severely injured after an earthquake hit northwest China.
According to local officials, the strong, shallow tremor struck around midnight on Monday, leaving many trapped under the rumble.
On Tuesday, footage shown on state TV and social media networks showed entire villages split by the quake, as well as collapsed buildings and houses.
Residents who fled their homes were also shown huddling over makeshift fires at hastily erected evacuation camps. Temperatures hit -13C (8.7F) on Tuesday, Chinese media reported.
Survivors said the tremors had felt like “being tossed by surging waves”, and recalled rushing out of their apartments.
“I woke my family up and we rushed down all 16 floors in one breath,” said one man named Mr Qin by Chinese outlets.
“I was almost scared to death. Look at how my hands and legs are shaking,” said a woman of about 30 in a video posted to a social media account associated with the state-run People’s Daily newspaper.
“As soon as I ran out of the house, the earth on the mountain gave way, thudding on the roof,” she said as she sat swaddled in a blanket outside, cradling a baby.
Local officials in Jishishan County, the worst hit in Gansu Province, said more than 5,000 buildings in the area had been damaged.
Chinese media quoted a director of the Gansu rescue team, who attributed the widescale damage to poor building quality in the villages—many homes were old and made of clay.
Gansu lies between the Tibetan and Loess plateaus and borders Mongolia. The remote region is one of China’s poorest and most ethnically diverse.
The epicentre of the quake was in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, home to many Chinese Muslim groups, including the Hui, Bonan, Dongxiang and Salar people.
Chinese authorities said the quake measured 6.2 on the Richter scale, while the US Geological Survey (USGS) recorded a magnitude of 5.9 and a depth of 10km (6 miles). About 10 aftershocks have taken place, local authorities reported.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for “all-out efforts” as search and rescue work got underway early Tuesday.
Earthquakes are not uncommon in China. In August, a shallow 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck the eastern part of the country, injuring 23 people and collapsing dozens of buildings.
In September 2022, a 6.6-magnitude quake hit Sichuan Province, leaving almost 100 people dead.
And in 2010, a 6.9-magnitude quake in Qinghai left 3,000 people dead or missing.
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