This is the moment a chef returns to the building during a terrifying earthquake to save the restaurant.

The structure was rocked by the 4.8 magnitude quake in Yinchuan, Ningxia, northern China, on January 2, five days before the Tibet earthquake.

CCTV footage from the cooking area shows when the establishment begins to shake, and the three cooks run to the exit.

But seconds later, one of them runs back to the kitchen and quickly turns off the power to the huge fat fryer that could have torched the entire restaurant if it ruptured.

She even finds time to pop the lid on the fryer before running out of the kitchen again as the clip ends.

Her boss, Mr Ma, told local media that he had given her a cash bonus for her courage.

He said: 'She took care of the restaurant as if it were her own.'

The earthquake was part of two series that hit Yinchuan a few hours apart. One was a 4.6-magnitude quake, followed by a 4.8-magnitude quake.

The 4.8 magnitude quake took place at 10:01 am, with the second one taking place at 4:43 pm.

There have been no reports of any casualties.

The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) said China accounts for one-third of the world's destructive continental earthquakes. Since 1900, more than 550,000 people have died in earthquakes in China, which is 53 per cent of the total casualties in earthquakes worldwide.