DAHEIJA: As evening brought freezing temperatures to northwestern China’s Gansu province, shellshocked residents huddled around small fires in the street, reeling after the country’s deadliest earthquake in years deprived them of shelter.
The quake, which struck in the dead of Monday night (Dec 18), has killed at least 127 people – mostly in impoverished Gansu – and injured hundreds of others.
Near the epicentre in Dahejia, a remote town around 2,000m above sea level, a middle-aged Muslim woman wearing a black head covering told AFP it was the first time she had experienced such a powerful earthquake.
“Usually there are no quakes here. Even the elderly said they had never seen anything like this before,” she said.
She had been shaken awake when the earth began moving, and grabbing her two children, immediately fled into the icy night.
The shop she owned had been badly damaged, so she was now selling her wares on the street.
“It’s too dangerous to stay inside”, she said, declining to give her name.
Source: CNA
