China to mourn quake dead as toll passes 2 000

China will hold a national day of mourning for victims of an earthquake in the country’s western region, the government announced on Tuesday, as the official death toll from the disaster climbed to 2 039.

Another 195 people are still listed as missing following the quake, which struck Yushu county, a heavily Tibetan area in the province of Qinghai last Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The nation will pause to mourn the victims on Wednesday, a week after the quake hit, with national flags at half-mast and public entertainment curtailed, the Chinese Cabinet decided, according to the central government website.

Despite dwindling hopes, rescuers continued searching for survivors in the flattened town of Gyegu, the county seat of Yushu with about 90 000 inhabitants, spurred by the discovery of three survivors the previous day.

An elderly Tibetan woman and her granddaughter were pulled out alive, and a woman in her 30s was rescued after being trapped for 130 hours, state media reported.—Reuters