Tibetan monks in the northwest province of Qinghai have moved to their new dorms ahead of winter, 19 months after a devastating earthquake jolted their monastery.

More than 180 monks from Trangu Monastery, one of three most famous monasteries in the county of Yushu, packed up their tents and moved into their dorms on Thursday after seven months' reconstruction.

The 7.1-magnitude earthquake killed 23 monks and toppled almost the entire monastery, including 260 dorms, last April, forcing the monks to live in tents.

"Life in the tents was not easy. Due to power shortages, we could not use electric heaters, and never lit a stove to prevent fires," said a monk called Sonam Wangdu, "I still felt cold even under four or five quilts."

In April, the Chinese government earmarked more than 40 million yuan (6.3 million U.S. dollars) to establish a new monastery, 7 kilometers away from the original one, which is expected to take four years to complete.

In the Yushu Tibetan prefecture, where Yushu county is located, there are over 230 monasteries like Trangu. Over 87 were affected by the earthquake, with total economic loss up to 756 million yuan, said Leshi, chief of ethnic and religious affairs bureau of the prefecture.

The Chinese government has allocated 1 billion yuan for their restoration, according to Leshi.

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