When a magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck just before midnight on Monday, Ma Shijun, a student at Dahejia Middle School in the plateau county of Jishishan in northwest China’s Gansu Province, ran out of the dormitory barefoot without grabbing a coat.
With temperatures plummeting below minus 10 degrees Celsius, Ma found his hands slightly numb in the cold as teachers promptly organized students to seek refuge on the playground.
“Seeing more and more rescuers arriving, I find myself less frightened than I was when the earthquake first struck,” said Ma.
As of 9 a.m. on Wednesday, the death toll in Gansu stood at 113, with 782 more injured. And the quake has also taken the lives of 18 people and wounded 198 others in the neighboring Qinghai Province, where 16 more still remain missing, local authorities said on Wednesday morning.
Immediately after the quake, President Xi Jinping urged all-out search and rescue efforts and proper arrangements for affected people to ensure the safety of people’s lives and property.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, instructed local authorities to rescue and treat those injured promptly to minimize casualties and closely monitor the earthquake situation and weather changes to prevent secondary disasters.
Disaster-affected residents line up to get meals at Dahejia Town in Jishishan County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Gansu Province, December 19, 2023. /Xinhua
Rapid emergency response
In his instruction, Xi stressed the importance of organizing the allocation of rescue and relief supplies as soon as possible and repairing damaged infrastructure facilities such as electricity, telecommunications, transportation and heating.
The State Council has sent a working group to the stricken regions to help guide relief work. Gansu and Qinghai provinces have organized relief support with the immediate allocation of relief supplies such as camps and folding beds to the affected areas.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police Force (PAPF) have deployed multiple rescue forces to quake-hit areas.
According to the PLA Western Theater Command, at 4 a.m. on Tuesday, around 300 troops from the command arrived in Jishishan County, the epicenter of the earthquake and the hardest-hit area. They were tasked with missions that involved searching for victims, rescue operations and roadway clearing.
Meanwhile, the PAPF Gansu Corps has mobilized over 300 officers and soldiers and deployed more than 40 vehicles to Jishishan. Their tasks included searching for and rescuing individuals, facilitating the transfer of the injured, clearing obstructed roadways and establishing tents as shelters.
The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, announced Tuesday that it has earmarked 250 million yuan (about $35.2 million) of investment from the central budget for quake-hit areas in Gansu and Qinghai provinces to support the emergency restoration and construction of infrastructure and public service facilities.
Firefighters take the injured to the hospital at Dahejia Town in Jishishan County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Gansu Province, December 19, 2023. /CFP
Relief efforts continue
The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) has initiated its Level II emergency response and dispatched task forces to the affected areas. A mechanism for emergency coordination in northwest China has also been activated, and search and rescue teams, medical teams and disaster relief teams have been deployed, said the RCSC.
In addition, the National Health Commission announced on Tuesday that a team of medical experts has been dispatched to assist the affected region. The commission has coordinated emergency medical teams from various regions, including Sichuan, Shaanxi and Ningxia, to contribute to rescue efforts in both Gansu and Qinghai.
In the town of Dahejia, one of the worst-hit areas by the quake, more than 900 people have been temporarily sheltered in more than 100 tents, with access to food, water and medical resources.
Yan Wei, deputy director of the Gansu branch of the Blue Sky Rescue Team, was among the first responders who had made it to the town hours after the quake.
“About 70 to 80 percent of the houses in the town have been damaged,” Yan told CGTN. “Roads have caved in some areas.”
He said different kinds of rescue resources were pouring in. Local officials have offered coats and thermal equipment, among others, to those affected by the disaster, he added.
