Central authorities raise emergency response for NW China quake

（Xinhua） 08:12, July 23, 2013

Rescuers clear the debris of a damaged house in quake-hit Majiagou Village of Minxian County, northwest China's Gansu Province, July 22, 2013. Fifty-four deaths have so far been confirmed in the 6.6-magnitude earthquake which jolted a juncture region of Minxian County and Zhangxian County in Dingxi City Monday morning. (Xinhua/Guo Gang)

BEIJING, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Central authorities on Monday afternoon raised the emergency response level from level four to level three for a 6.6-magnitude quake that occurred in northwest China's Gansu Province on Monday morning.

The response level was raised by the National Commission for Disaster Reduction and the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA).

The State Council dispatched to the quake zone a work group, which is led by Jiang Li, a vice minister of the MCA, and composed of China Earthquake Administration, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Publice Security and the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

The MCA has allocated 10,000 tents, 30,000 cotton quilts, 5,000 folding beds and 10,000 sleeping bags to Gansu, while the Gansu provincial government has allocated 5 million yuan (830,000 U.S. dollars) to fund relief efforts.

The quake jolted the border of Minxian and Zhangxian counties in the city of Dingxi at 7:45 a.m. Monday morning.

Seventy-three people in the city of Dingxi and two in the neighboring city of Longnan have been confirmed killed. Fourteen people are missing and another 584 have been injured.

（Editor：ZhangQian、Yao Chun）