(Photo: AP Photo)University students participate in a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims of the Yushu Earthquake in Hefei in central China's Anhui province, Friday April 16, 2010. Rescuers probed the rubble for sounds or movement Friday in a rush to find anyone buried alive more than 48 hours after an earthquake hit western China, killing at least 760 people.
The death toll from Wednesday’s 7.1-magnitude earthquake in western China shot up to more than 1,144 late Friday after being reported as 791 just ten hours earlier, according to the government’s official press agency.
Meanwhile, around 294 remain missing and 11,486 injured, reported the Xinhua News Agency.
About 100,000 people have been relocated.
Although China's Ministry of Civil Affairs said it is was planning to send 5,000 tents, 50,000 quilts and 50,000 winter jackets to the affected areas, relief teams on the ground said Friday that thousands of survivors were still in need of tents and blankets.
Many "had a sleepless night outdoors in the freezing cold and windy night," reported the Amity Foundation, which sent a six-member assessment team to Jiegu town – the most-affected area – on Friday.
Also on the ground is a team dispatched by aid group World Vision, which said Thursday that hygiene, medical and other health needs may be a critical area of need that it can help fill.
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According to Meimei Leung, leader of World Vision's assessment team, adequate shelter and warm clothing for children and families is a key concern as average temperatures in the area have been hovering between -3 to 14 degrees Celsius.
Coincidentally, Wednesday’s earthquake struck roughly one month before the second anniversary of the massive earthquake in Sichuan Province, which lies 60 miles away from Yushu county, the area most affected by Wednesday’s quake.
The 2008 quake, registered as a magnitude-7.9 temblor, killed nearly 90,000 people.
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