Rescuers are braving freezing temperatures in their search and rescue of survivors after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted a county in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning.
The first batch of rescuers started rescue work as soon as they arrived in Dingri County, China's firefighting authorities said. As of 11:40 a.m., over 1,500 local firefighters and rescue workers had been dispatched to the affected areas.
The earthquake emergency response in Xizang has been raised to Level I, the highest level, the region's emergency command center announced on Tuesday.
Some 22,000 disaster relief items, including cotton tents, cotton coats, quilts and folding beds, together with special relief materials for high-altitude and frigid areas, have been dispatched by central authorities to the quake-hit region.
Shortly after the earthquake, the Chinese military sent a drone to survey the epicenter area, the People's Liberation Army Western Theater Command said.
Meanwhile, the theater command's air force immediately activated a disaster relief emergency plan, organizing multiple transport aircraft, medical planes, helicopters and ground forces to stand by.
（Reported by Kunga Lesang, Kunsang Lhamo, Jiang Feibo Edited by Tian Minna ）
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