6.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Gansu-Qinghai border region, over 110 dead

At least 111 people were killed and more than 230 injured after an earthquake hit the Gansu-Qinghai border region in China on Tuesday, according to reports by state media. The earthquake's magnitude was estimated by the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre to be 6.1. The magnitude of the earthquake was reported as 6.2 by Chinese official media.

According to EMSC, the earthquake struck at a depth of 35 km, with its epicentre located 102 kilometres to the west-southwest of Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu. Regarding the aftermath of the earthquake, official sources have not indicated if there are any missing persons.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for “all-out efforts” in the search and relief work.  The US Geological Survey recorded the magnitude of the earthquake as 5.9. Haidong is located in Gansu, close to the Qinghai border. This is around 100 km southwest of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province. A number of lesser aftershocks were felt shortly after. According to official media CCTV,

The temperature in Linxia, Gansu, near where the quake occurred, was about minus 14 degrees Celsius on Tuesday morning. Most of China is grappling with freezing temperatures as a cold wave that started last week continued to sweep through the country.

Rescue and relief work is under way and a working group was dispatched to assess the impact of the disaster and to provide guidance for local relief operations, state media said.

Earthquakes are not uncommon in China. A weak 5.4-magnitude earthquake that occurred in August in eastern China caused the collapse of several structures and injured 23 persons. A 6.6-magnitude earthquake that struck the region of Sichuan in September 2022 claimed around 100 lives. In 2008, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 claimed the lives of almost 87,000 people, including 5,335 students.

• Gansu
• China
• China earthquake