Floating "ice flowers" were seen blooming on a section of the Yellow River in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
On the surface of the river, thin rings of ice formed a dazzling array that shimmered under the setting sun as they floated more than 30 kilometers upstream of the frozen Wuhai Lake.
Wuhai City is located in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River. Due to the influence of factors such as temperature, river morphology, and water flow speed between the upper and lower reaches, when the Yellow River enters the ice flood period, there often appears a strange landscape of partial freezing of the river and flowing ice.
The Yellow River is China's second-longest river, with the 5,464-km-long waterway feeding about 12 percent of China's population. It irrigates about 15 percent of arable land, supports 14 percent of national GDP and supplies water to more than 60 cities.
Floating "ice flowers" bloom on Yellow River section
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Dingri County in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning, killing 126 people and injuring 188 others, according to figures released at 19:00 on Tuesday.
The earthquake hit Dingri County in the city of Xigaze at 09:05 on Tuesday, with the epicenter located in the county's Tsogo Township.
Rescue forces from different emergency services have rescued 407 trapped people, set up 14 relocation and resettlement sites, and relocated and resettled more than 30,400 people affected by the disaster.
Municipal-level hospitals in the region are currently treating 28 critically injured patients.
Twenty four medical rescue teams with 568 people and 106 ambulances were dispatched to the region to carry out transfer and treatment work, with all those requiring treatment admitted to hospital.
More than 5,800 pieces of relief supplies, including cotton tents, cotton clothes and quilts, urgently allocated by the National Disaster Reduction Commission, the Ministry of Emergency Management, and the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration arrived at the quake-stricken area on Tuesday night, with 16,000 more pieces of relief supplies expected to be delivered on Wednesday.
More than 170,000 pieces of urgently needed supplies including tents, beds, quilts, blankets, warm clothing, heating equipment, emergency lightning, and food and water were also urgently dispatched to the affected area.
The region's emergency command center on Tuesday also raised the earthquake emergency response to level I, the highest level.
Death toll rises to 126 in 6.8-magnitude Xizang quake
