BEIJING, Dec 22, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - The toll from China's deadliest earthquake

in years rose to 148 on Friday, state media reported, as authorities turned
their attention to resettling thousands of people displaced by the disaster.

The quake, which struck northwest China just before midnight on Monday, has
killed at least 117 people in Gansu province and 31 in neighbouring Qinghai,
the official Xinhua News Agency said.

More than 139,000 people have been moved to emergency shelters across the two
provinces, according to state broadcaster CCTV, which said rescuers in Gansu
were "fully shifting the focus of their work toward resettling affected
populations and treating the injured".

But emergency response teams were still searching for trapped victims in
Qinghai on Friday morning, according to CCTV.

People were buried alive in Qinghai's Zhongchuan township on Tuesday after a
"sand boil" -- a phenomenon that can occur during an earthquake when soil
liquefies and forces sand and water out of the ground.

The quake was China's deadliest since 2014, when more than 600 people were
killed in southwestern Yunnan province.

Almost 1,000 were injured across the two provinces after the shallow tremor
on Monday, measured at 5.9 by the US Geological Survey.

Dozens of smaller aftershocks followed.

Subzero temperatures have made the aid operation even more challenging, with
AFP reporters seeing survivors huddle around outdoor fires to keep warm in
the day after the quake.