BEIJING — A strong earthquake hit a remote part of western China overnight killing at least 118 people and injuring more than 200, the state news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.

The tremblor hit Jishishan County, in the southwestern part of Gansu province near the border with Qinghai province —     1    mountainous region populated, in part, by members of the Tibetan, Hui, Dongxiang and Salar ethnic groups.

Xinhua said the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.2.     2    the dead, 100 were in Gansu and another 11 in Qinghai. The quake damaged water, electricity, transport, communications and other infrastructure (基础设施) in the area, it said. Chinese leader Xi Jinping quickly called for all-out efforts in search and rescue and    3     (treat) the injured. He also urged the hasty deployment of relief materials and infrastructure    4    (repair) , because the area is at high altitude and the winter weather is cold.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 5.9,     5     reported several aftershocks. Rescue teams told Chinese media that frozen roads made driving into the towns and villages in Jishishan county, the area most    6    (affect) difficult. It’s a area inhabited by numerous ethnic minority groups, including Tibetans and Salars. Rescuers are now working in average temperatures of about 14 degrees Fahrenheit, well below    7     (freeze).

About 10 hours later,     8     (far) west, a 5.5 magnitude earthquake in the Xinjiang region     9    (strike) near China’s border with Kygyzstan. The earthquake happened in a remote area. So far, no casualties or building damage    10    (report).

Over the past few days, a number of forest fires     1    (break) out in Chongqing and its surrounding areas due to the extremely dry and hot weather. Many rescue personnel and volunteers participated in the rescue overnight,    2    moved a lot of people across the country. The mountain fires in several regions in Chongqing have been     3    (eventual) put out on Friday morning. No casualties have been reported.

Chongqing motorcyclists are being praised     4    heroes for volunteering to transport much-needed supplies to the fire and rescue workers     5    (fight) the wildfires caused by prolonged heat and drought across multiple districts in the municipality(自治市).

Facing the tough situation, the city government called for volunteers with related skills and experience     6    (join) the firefighting,     7    a large number of motorcyclists have played an important role and won widespread praise. The team members, with     8    average age of 29, took turns to use five dirt bikes and four scooters to carry materials and equipment to firefighters and to transport people and     9    (necessary).

The example of a foreign teacher who volunteered to help fight the raging wildfires in Chongqing’s Beibei district with other local residents has touched many.

When all the people     10    (unite), peace will reign across the country.

French disaster epic Notre-Dame on Fire hits Chinese big screen

This April marks the     1     (four) anniversary of Notre-Dame in Paris being engulfed by the biggest blaze in its history.

NotreDame on Fire, now in Chinese cinemas, is a disaster epic     2     veteran French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud, who also helmed Wolf Totem(2015), a drama film     3     (adapt) from Chinese writer Jiang Rong’s eponymous novel. The film made its China premiere on April 6 in Beijing in the presence of France’s Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak and the director.

Presenting a blow-by-blow recreation of the gripping events that     4     (happen) on April 15, 2019 when the fire at the French medieval catholic cathedral rocked France and shocked the whole world, Annaud’s new film hails the heroic people who put their lives on     5     line to accomplish the awe-inspiring rescue. Annaud unveiled the filming details of the film to the audience     6     (attend) the China premiere.

“It was a     7     (danger) movie. The actors were actually very close to the extremely violent fire, 1,200-degree Fahrenheit fire. There are very few digital special effects. Almost all of what you have seen are     8     (identical) reconstructed sets that I set on fire,” he said.

“When I saw this movie in Paris last year, it took me a few hours     9     I could breathe and walk normally on the street,” said Malak at the film’s China premiere.

The French minister announced that 2024 will be the France-China Year of Culture and Tourism and she invited Chinese tourists to travel to France for the occasion, especially to see the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris,     10     , after almost six years of extensive renovations, is scheduled to reopen to the public in December of the same year.