YINGWA VILLAGE ,Gansu Province: A tight-knit Muslim minority community on Thursday (Dec 21) was mourning an 8-year-old girl killed by an earthquake that rocked their village in China days earlier.
The victim Ma Jinyuan was crushed by a rock wall when the quake jolted Gansu and Qinghai provinces a minute before midnight on Monday (Dec 18).
Recounting her fear and panic, the victim's grandmother, Ga Fengmo, said Ma was sleeping with her and other family members when the quake struck. "I couldn't even put on my prayer hat or shoes, I immediately went looking for help."
Despite efforts to rush her to hospital, family members said she died en route from the remote village of Yangwa to the nearest medical facilities.
Ma and her family live in a close community of about 200 people and belong to the Hui ethnic minority whom are mostly found in western China.
Many of her close relatives were seen grieving at a wake being held for Ma.
"We tried our best to dig out the soil with our hands. The other three people were rescued, and only one person died," said an Imam of the community, Ma Meidong.
Survivors now face uncertainty in the wintry months ahead without permanent shelter amid freezing temperatures.
A dozen people were still missing on Thursday after the 6.2-magnitude earthquake killed 137 people. More than 207,000 homes were wrecked and nearly 15,000 collapsed in Gansu, affecting more than 145,000 people.
Chinese media reported that search-and-rescue work in Gansu ended at 3pm on Tuesday (Decr 19), about 15 hours after the disaster hit. It was not immediately clear whether the search in Qinghai was continuing. — Reuters