Snow hits China quake area as death toll rises to 2,183

Apr 22, 2010, 5:15 GMT

Beijing - Heavy snow hampered relief efforts on Thursday following last week's devastating earthquake in the mainly Tibetan Yushu area of north-west China's Qinghai province, as the death toll has climbed to nearly 2,200.

Snow began falling early Thursday and was lying more than 3 centimetres deep by 8 am in Jiegu, the Yushu county town, said local meteorologist Tsering Tashi.

The heavy snow and strong wind brought more hardship to tens of thousands of survivors sheltering in thin tents, the official Xinhua news agency reported from Yushu.

The snowfall was forecast to to stop on Thursday afternoon but return on Friday or Saturday, the agency quoted Tsering as saying.

Local roads were already 'covered with snow and ice,' making transportation of relief supplies more difficult, it said.

Officials said the death toll had risen to 2,183 by late Wednesday, with 84 people still missing.

On Wednesday, China held national mourning ceremonies for those who died in the magnitude-6.9 quake, which razed 85 per cent of the buildings in Jiegu on April 14.

The quake left 12,135 injured, including 1,434 in serious condition, the officials said.

The area's 4,000-metre altitude, more than 1,000 aftershocks, electricity shortages, damage to roads and stray dogs have also hampered relief and rescue operations by some 15,000 troops, police, firefighters and other professionals, reports said.

The government said 25,000 tents and more than 50,000 quilts had arrived by Sunday in Yushu for the up to 100,000 people left homeless after the quake.