A dozen people were still missing on Thursday after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Gansu province late on Monday.

Chinese media reported that search and rescue work in Gansu ended at 3pm on Tuesday, about 15 hours after the disaster hit a remote and mountainous area near the border straddling Gansu and Qinghai provinces.

In Gansu, 113 people had been found dead as of 9am on Wednesday and 782 were injured, authorities said. Gansu has not reported any missing person.

Neighbouring Qinghai saw its death toll rise to 22 with 198 injured and 12 missing as of 8.56pm on Wednesday.

More than 207,000 homes were wrecked and nearly 15,000 collapsed in Gansu, affecting more than 145,000 people.

People trapped under rubble exposed to prolonged temperatures of -10 degrees Celsius run the risk of rapid hypothermia and may only be able to live for five to 10 hours even if uninjured, mainland media reported, citing researchers.

Rescuers on Wednesday pulled to safety several victims of the earthquake, which jolted Jishishan county in Gansu a minute before midnight on Monday, sending many residents in the area out of homes into the cold.

Survivors face uncertainty in the wintry months ahead without permanent shelter amid freezing temperatures.

Roads, power and water lines and agricultural production facilities have suffered damage, and the quake triggered land and mudslides that swept through villages in Qinghai's Haidong where the missing were reported from. (Reuters)