The death toll after a powerful earthquake in north-western China has risen to 89, with tens of thousands homeless in Gansu province, the Government said on Tuesday.
More than 600 people were injured and five were missing following the earthquake early Monday, provincial authorities reported.
Hundreds of soldiers, paramilitary police and civilians had joined rescue work but were hampered by rain, aftershocks and roads blocked by landslides, reports said.
The teams had rescued nearly 500 people and evacuated some 31,000 people from towns and villages in Gansu’s Minxian and Zhangxian counties by late Monday, the Gansu Seismological Bureau said.
The earthquake was measured at 6.6 magnitude by the China Earthquake Networks Centre and 5.9 by the US Geological Survey.
The epicentre was about 180 kilometres south-east of the provincial capital, Lanzhou, and some 1,200 kilometres west of Beijing.