Enormous magnitude 6.1 earthquake devastates China leaving 96 people dead and almost 100 more injured

Eighty-six people have died and 96 people were injured after an earthquake hit north-west China on Tuesday, according to state media reports. 

The quake struck in Gansu province just before midnight local time, damaging buildings both there and in the neighbouring province of Qinghai. 

The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) had pegged the earthquake at a magnitude 6.1 in the region. 

The country's central government has dispatched teams of rescue workers early on Tuesday morning to help local teams, according to state media agency Xinhua.

In a statement issued to officials, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said 'all efforts should be made to carry out search and rescue, treat the injured in a timely manner, and minimise casualties'. 

There are reports of damage to water and electricity lines, as well as transportation and communications infrastructure.

China's national commission for disaster prevention, reduction and relief and Ministry of Emergency Management have activated a level-IV disaster relief emergency, Xinhua reported. 

The quake was at a depth of 35 km (21.75 miles) with its epicenter located 102 km west-southwest of Lanzhou, China, EMSC said.

The earthquake was felt in Lanzhou, the Gansu provincial capital, about 1,450 kilometers (900 miles) southwest of the capital of Beijing. 

Last year in September, at least 74 people were reported killed in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook China's southwestern province of Sichuan, triggering landslides and shaking buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu.