Beijing, Dec 31 (EFE).- At least 151 people have now died after the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that shook the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai on Dec. 18, state media reported Sunday.
The Qinghai government reported in the last few hours that the number of victims in the province had increased to 34 after recovering the bodies of two missing people, Xinhua news agency reported.
The official number of people in Gansu who lost their lives remains at 117 as a result of the earthquake, which occurred on the border between the two provinces.
The epicenter of the earthquake was located at a depth of 10 kilometers, which amplified its destructive impact, experts said.
Many of the affected homes were old and built from materials with low seismic resistance.
The earthquake caused serious damage to the area’s infrastructure, affecting more than 200,000 homes that were destroyed and another 15,000 that were on the verge of collapse according to authorities.
It was the deadliest earthquake in China since the one in August 2014 in the southern province of Yunnan, which caused 617 deaths, but lighther than the one suffered in 2008 in the province of Sichuan, which caused at least 70,000 deaths. EFE
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