As aftershocks continue to rattle western China on Wednesday, more than 12,000 people have rushed into tents and shelters, kindling fires to combat the freezing weather.
A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck a remote area of China's Xinjiang province on Tuesday, resulting in the death of 3 people and injuring 5 others.
It also caused damage to hundreds of buildings.
The earthquake caused significant damage amid freezing temperatures, but relatively minimal loss of life and property due to the sparse population in the epicenter area in the Oyturpan County, near the border with Kazakhstan.
Footage aired by China Central Television on Wednesday showed earthquake survivors being evacuated while eating instant noodles in tents next to heating fires, according to the Associated Press.
The earthquake hit a sparsely populated area with scattered towns and villages, amid severe winter conditions. A highway from the city of Aksu, about 125 kilometers away, runs through frozen areas on one side and rocky outcrops on the other.
In Kyrgyzstan's Kezilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture, the earthquake caused varying degrees of damage to 851 buildings, the collapse of 93 buildings near the epicenter, and the death of 910 head of livestock, according to the provincial party deputy secretary, Roziyali Haksheirbay.
The province dispatched more than 2,300 rescuers and evacuated 7,338 residents in the Kezil Su area. A total of 12,426 people were evacuated overall.
Rescue teams conducted search and rescue operations while relief supplies, including coats and tents, arrived to assist those displaced from their homes.
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