Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake Kills At Least 100 In China's Northwest

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for efforts to minimize casualties after an impoverished region in the northwest was hit by an earthquake that left more than 100 dead. 

Some 100 people were killed in Gansu province and another 11 in neighboring Qinghai in the magnitude 6.2 quake late Monday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xi said officials needed “to go all out to conduct search and rescue operations, treat the injured in a timely manner and minimize casualties,” Xinhua said Tuesday. 

The earthquake occurred in Jishishan county in Gansu, which officially ranked 27th out of 31 Chinese provinces and municipalities in terms of GDP size in 2022. 

Rural Jishishan is some 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Gansu’s capital of Lanzhou. Rescue operations may be complicated by the weather as northern China deals with a cold snap.

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