Midnight Earthquake Kills 116, Injures Over 400 in China

Over 116 people died and around 400 were when a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck a remote mountainous region in northwest China just before midnight.

According to the China Earthquake Networks Centre, the shallow quake, with its epicenter at a depth of 10 Km jolted Gansu and Qinghai provinces at 11.59 pm on Monday.

The epicentre of the earthquake was at Liugou township. As it was a shallow earthquake, it caused heavy damage to infrastructure.

A second quake struck the neighbouring Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning. The epicentre, with a depth of 10 km, was monitored at 40.02 degrees north latitude and 77.86 degrees east longitude, the CENC said. Gansu and Qinghai also experienced aftershocks. So far 32 aftershocks were recorded, with the largest registering a magnitude of 4.0.

According to the official report, this quake claimed 105 lives in Gansu, 11 others died in Qinghai due to the quake. Over 397 persons were reported injured in quake hit areas.

The quake has damaged 6,381 houses in Jishishan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang have ordered all-out rescue efforts to reduce casualties after the earthquake.