Beijing, Dec 20 : The death toll from a powerful earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale that jolted China's Gansu and Qinghai provinces increased to 131 on Wednesday, while the number of injured persons stood at 980, authorities said.

The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck just before midnight on Monday, injuring more than 700 people, damaging roads and knocking out power and communication lines in Gansu and Qinghai provinces, officials and Chinese media reports said.  As emergency workers searched for the missing in collapsed buildings and at least one landslide, people who lost their homes spent a cold winter night in tents at hastily erected evacuation sites. 

“I just feel anxious, what other feelings could there be?” said Ma Dongdong, who noted in a phone interview that three bedrooms in his house had been destroyed and a part of his milk tea shop was cracked wide open.  Afraid to return home because of aftershocks, he spent the first night in a field with his wife, two children and some neighbours, where they made a fire to stay warm. In the early morning, they went to a tent settlement that Ma said was housing about 700 people. As of mid-afternoon, they were waiting for blankets and warm clothing to arrive.