Death toll in China's earthquake rises to 131

The death toll in the powerful 62magnitude earthquake that jolted a mountainous region of northwestern China late Monday night has risen to 131 local authorities said on WednesdayA total of 113 people were killed in the Gansu while the death toll in the neighbouring Qinghai province in the Himalayan region has risen to 18 from 14 on Tuesday with 16 others still missing in the quake the deadliest in nine yearsOver 700 hundred people were injured in both provincesQinghai province is adjacent to the Tibet Himalayan region which is prone to frequent earthquakes due to the shifting of continental platesA total of 74 people have been rescued so far while 4298 were evacuated Chinas Ministry of Emergency Management said It added that property worth over 153 million yuan about USD 216 million was also savedThe earthquake damaged 155393 houses in GansuAccording to the China Earthquake Networks Centre the quake jolted Gansu and Qinghai provinces at 1159 pm on Monday with a focal depth of 10 kilometresThe earthquakes epicentre Liugou township is about 8 km from the county seat of Jishishan Baoan Dongxiang Sala autonomous county in Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture in GansuAccording to the ministry over 736 rescuers from central enterprises projects in nearby areas and 2042 firefighters have been sent to the quakehit regionThe ministry said that more relief supplies are also on the way as the third batch of relief goods including 2000 cotton tents 5000 rollaway beds 5000 overcoats and 10000 quilts have been allocated to GansuA total of 133500 relief items have been sent to Gansu and the neighbouring Qinghai province to support the basic needs of those affected by the earthquake staterun Xinhua news agency saidTraffic has been resumed on all rural highways connecting areas severely affected by the quakeAll the expressways as well as national and provincial trunk roads in Gansu and Qinghai are operating smoothly and relief personnel supplies and vehicles can reach the disasterhit areas unimpededly the Ministry of Transport saidEfforts have also been made to restore power supply in quakehit areasThe damaged main power grid circuits in the earthquakestricken area of Jishishan County have been fully restored as of 630 pm Tuesday authorities saidIn Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture where the county is located electricity supply for all power users has been resumed the National Energy Administration saidPower supply to users in Qinghai affected by the earthquake has also been fully restored as of 721 pm according to the State Grid Qinghai Electric Power CompanyMonday nights quake was Chinas deadliest since an earthquake killed 617 people in Yunnan province in 2014This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever