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At least 118 people have been killed after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake hit north west China.
The earthquake hit the mountainous Gansu and Qinghai provinces at around midnight on Monday and more than 500 people have also been injured.
The tremors damaged houses and roads and knocked out power and communication lines, as well as damaging water and electricity lines.
The epicentre of the earthquake was about 800 miles south-west of Beijing, the Chinese capital, and tremors were felt as far as 60 miles away.
University students in Lanzhou, the Gansu provincial capital, rushed out of their dorms and were seen standing outdoors after the earthquake hit.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for an all-out search and rescue effort to minimise the casualties, Chinese state television said, and tents, folding beds and quilts were being sent to the area.
Houses damaged by the earthquake at Chenjia Village in Gansu (Picture: Xinhua/Shutterstock)
The People’s Armed Police Force were called in to aid search and rescue operations (Picture: Xinhua/Shutterstock)
Buildings in Qinghai have also been damaged (Picture: Xinhua/Shutterstock)
A mudslide triggered by the earthquake hit the village of Caotan in Qinghai (Picture: Xinhua/Shutterstock)
One village, Caotan, was hit by a landslide triggered by the earthquake, and 20 people have been reported missing.
Gansu has been hardest hit by the earthquake, with 105 people confirmed dead and another 397 injured, according to updated figures from the local emergency management department on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile in Qinghai 13 people were reported dead and 182 more have been injured.
Earthquakes are somewhat common in the mountainous area of western China that rises up to form the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau.
Last September at least 74 people were reported killed in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook China’s south-western province of Sichuan, triggering landslides and shaking buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu.
China’s deadliest earthquake in recent years was a 7.9 magnitude quake in 2008 that killed nearly 90,000 people in Sichuan.
The tremor devastated towns, schools and rural communities outside Chengdu, leading to a years-long effort to rebuild with more resistant materials.
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