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Relatives kept alive a 4 year old girl and an elderly woman trapped by an earthquake under a collapsed house for almost a week in China by using bamboo poles to push water and rice through the rubble until rescuers saved them. The rare good news came as the death toll in China’s remote Tibetan region jumped to more than 2,000, with about 200 still missing.

But relief efforts could be hindered as snow began falling Tuesday on the high-altitude region. Snow and sleet are forecast for the next three days, with temperatures dropping by nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) to far below freezing, according to Tsering Tashi, deputy chief of the Yushu Prefecture Meteorological Bureau, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Rescuers also freed a third person Monday from the rubble of a hillside house that toppled when the magnitude-6.9 temblor struck Yushu county of Qinghai province Wednesday morning, state broadcaster China Central Television reported.

@ The Island JIEGU, China (AP)