A series of quakes and aftershocks caused low, brick buildings in Qinghai Province's ethnically Tibetan Yushu county to collapse. Most of those killed were in the county seat, also known as Jyeku. The Tibetan plateau is regularly shaken by earthquakes, but casualties are usually minimal because so few people live there. Troops have been dispatched to the area. Many residents of the remote area could be left without shelter in temperatures that hover near freezing in Yushu, and even colder in the high mountain villages. Government officials told state media the majority of houses have been badly damaged. The Xinhua news agency reported that the early morning quake had caused some schools and part of a government office building to cave in. It said that some vocational school students and primary school students were trapped in the rubble. The widespread collapse of school buildings when other surrounding buildings stayed standing, caused anger and accusations of corruption after the devastating May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, which killed 80,000 people.
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