On April 14th, residents of China's remote Yushu County, located on the Tibetan plateau, were awoken by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake. In the sparsely populated villages and the larger town of Gyegu, thousands of wood-earth buildings collapsed and many larger structured heavily damaged or destroyed. The region is difficult to reach for the response teams of the Chinese government outside aid groups - lying at an elevation of 3,700m (12,000 ft) and connected by few roads, most of which were damaged in the quake. Chinese state media now says the death toll has risen to 1,144. Rescuers continue to search for survivors as homeless residents work to recover what they can and set up shelter from the freezing overnight temperatures.
1. A rescuer searches for survivors at a collapsed building in Yushu County, northwest China's Qinghai province, Friday, April 16 , 2010. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
2. Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of quake demolished building in Yushu county, in northwest China's Qinghai province on April 16, 2010. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
3. Rescuers carry a 13-year-old Tibetan girl, who had been buried in the ruins of a collapsed hotel for more than 50 hours after a strong earthquake, in Yushu, Qinghai province, April 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Donald Chan)
4. The rubble of a collapsed building, seen on April 15, 2010, after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit Yushu county in northwest China's Qinghai province the day before. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
5. Tibetan monks carry a body they dug out from the debris of a collapsed hotel building in the earthquake-hit town of Gyegu in Yushu County, Qinghai province April 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Alfred Jin)
6. A general view of a town square shows search and rescue operations underway in Gyegu, Yushu County on April 16, 2010. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
7. This Thursday, April 15, 2010 satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows part of Yushu, China, only one day after it was struck by a devastating earthquake. Relief workers estimate that 70 percent to 90 percent of the town's wood-and-mud houses collapsed when the earthquakes hit. (AP Photo/DigitalGlobe)
8. Rope and bandages hold together a medics quake-damaged vehicle as he drives through a makeshift hospital at the Yushu Sports Stadium in Gyegu, Yushu County, on April 16, 2010. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
9. A woman, front, rests near her collapsed house while a rescuer leads a dog to search for a missing person in Gyegu town, earthquake-hit Yushu, west China's Qinghai province, Friday, April 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)
10. A dead horse lies among bloodstained rubble in Gyegu, Yushu County, on April 16, 2010. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
11. Quake survivor Sonammon, 52, who lost ten members of her family from the quake gestures in prayer while holding onto her nephew in Gyegu, Yushu County, on April 16, 2010 following the devastating April 14th earthquake. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
12. Rescuers search students at a school collapsed after an earthquake in Yushu County, northwest China's Qinghai Province, Friday, April 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
13. A Tibetan monk walks on rubble in Gyegu township, Yushu country, in the northwestern province of Qinghai on April 16, 2010. (LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images)
14. The hand of a Tibetan child killed by the earthquake is seen amongst blankets and clothing used as makeshift shrouds for the bodies of earthquake victims near Gyegu Monastery in Gyegu town of Yushu County, Qinghai province April 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Alfred Jin)
15. A Tibetan monk stands beside hundreds of dead bodies wrapped in cloth at Gyegu Monastery in the earthquake-hit town of Gyegu in Yushu County, Qinghai province April 16, 2010. The actual death toll from Wednesday's quake is still unclear, but the damage was mainly around Gyegu, where most of Yushu county's 100,000 people reside. (REUTERS/Alfred Jin)
16. Monks carry bodies, wrapped in cloth, onto a truck for Tibetan burial near the Gyegu Monastery in Gyegu town, in China's Qinghai province, Friday, April 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)
17. In this photo provided by China's Xinhua News Agency, two people search for useful goods on debris of their destroyed house at Gyegu Town in Yushu, northwest China's Qinghai Province, Friday, April 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Wang Peng)
18. Chinese paramilitary policemen look for survivors under the debris of collapsed houses after an earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai province, April 16, 2010. (REUTERS/China Daily)
19. Injured earthquake survivors wait to board a flight to a safe place for medical treatment, at the Yushu airport, Qinghai province April 15, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)
20. Medical staff attend to an injured earthquake victim at a hospital after a group of 24 severely injured earthquake survivors were evacuated to Lanzhou, in northwest China's Gansu province on April 15, 2010. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
21. Ambulances are loaded to trailers to transport to Yushu county in Qinghai province from Beijing Thursday, April 15, 2010. (AP Photo)
22. A Tibetan man makes phone calls to his relatives at his destroyed house after an earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai province April 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)
23. A dog sleeps near the Tibetan Buddhist Gyegu Monastery which overlooks the surrounding area. Many bodies have been brought to the monastery for cremation after the recent quake, in Gyegu, Yushu County, on April 16, 2010. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
24. Ethnic Tibetans and local residents unload tents from a truck in the earthquake-hit town of Gyegu in Yushu County, Qinghai province April 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Donald Chan)
25. A damaged car rests beneath the rubble of a quake-demolished building in Yushu county, in northwest China's Qinghai province on April 16, 2010. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
26. A Tibetan woman is comforted by her friends after rescuers pulled the body of her son from the rubble of a school that had collapsed after an earthquake in Yushu County, China on Friday, April 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
27. An injured Tibetan is carried by his relatives and residents to a bus which will take him to a safe place for medical treatment in the town of Gyegu in Yushu County, Qinghai province April 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Alfred Jin)
28. Angxiuduojie, 31, an ethnic Tibetan man, shows journalists where he and his family escaped from his collapsed house during the earthquake in Gyegu town, Qinghai province April 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Alfred Jin)
29. A nine-month-old child injured from the earthquake waits to board a flight to Xining city, at the Yushu airport, Qinghai province April 15, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)
30. Tibetans pull down a wall where they believe survivors may be buried amid the debris of a collapsed hotel building in Gyegu town, Qinghai province April 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Kevin Zhao)
31. Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of quake-demolished building in Yushu county, China on April 16, 2010. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
32. The bodies of an ethnic Tibetan woman and her daughter are seen inside a cage, before a traditional burial, amid the debris of collapsed house in Gyegu Town, Qinghai province April 15, 2010. (REUTERS/Alfred Jin)
33. A family rest in their courtyard near collapsed houses in Gyegu town, Qinghai province on Friday, April 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)
34. A girl reads a book outside her makeshift tent amid the rubble of a quake-demolished building in Yushu county, Qinghai province on April 16, 2010. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
35. A woman collects wood in the debris of collapsed houses in Gyegu town, Qinghai province on April 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)
36. Earthquake survivors cook on a makeshift stove in front of the demolished homes in Gyegu township, China on April 16, 2010. (LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images)
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