Earthquake in China’s Tibet kills at least 126; tremors felt in Nepal, India
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Follow topic:
BEIJING - A powerful earthquake in China’s remote Tibet region killed at least 126 people and caused “many buildings” to collapse on Jan 7, state media reported, with tremors also felt in neighbouring Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, and parts of India.
Videos published by China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed destroyed houses with walls torn apart.
Rescue workers waded through rubble strewn across the ruins in the aftermath of the earthquake, footage showed, while some gave locals thick blankets to keep warm in sub-zero temperatures.
Surveillance images published by CCTV showed people running through a store’s aisles as shelves shook violently, sending objects, such as toys, tumbling to the ground.
“A total of 126 people have been confirmed dead and 188 others injured as of 7pm on Tuesday,” Xinhua reported.
More than 1,000 houses have been damaged, Xinhua reported earlier.
The powerful quake struck Tingri county with a magnitude of 6.8 near the border with Nepal at 9.05am, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC). The US Geological Survey reported the quake as having a magnitude of 7.1.
Mr Sangji Dangzhi, whose supermarket in Tingri county suffered considerable damage, described the situation as “very serious”, with ambulances taking people to hospital throughout the day.
“Here, the houses are made from dirt, so when the earthquake came... lots of houses collapsed,” the 34-year-old, who returned home from Shigatse after the quake struck, told AFP by phone.
‘Very strong tremors’
CCTV reported that Tingri county and its surrounding areas “experienced very strong tremors, and many buildings near the epicentre have collapsed”.
In the town of Lhatse, videos geolocated by AFP showed debris scattered in front of kerbside eateries.
Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasised “full-scale search and rescue efforts, minimising casualties to the greatest extent possible, properly resettling affected residents, and ensuring their safety and warmth through the winter”, CCTV added.
Xinhua said the “local authorities are reaching out to various townships in the county to assess the impact of the quake”.
This frame grab from a video of a Douyin user on Jan 7 shows damage in Lhatse county in Shigatse city in China’s Tibet after an earthquake struck the area.
PHOTO: AFP
Temperatures in Tingri were around minus 8 deg C and were forecast to drop to minus 18 deg C on the evening of Jan 7, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
Disaster relief aid, including cotton tents, quilts and items for high-altitude and frigid areas, have been dispatched by the central authorities to areas impacted by the quake, Xinhua said.
The high-altitude county in the Tibet region situated on the Chinese side of Mount Everest is home to around 62,000 people.
Jan 7’s quake is the most powerful recorded within a 200km radius in the last five years, the CENC said.
‘Shook quite strongly’
As well as Kathmandu, areas around Lobuche in Nepal in the high mountains near Everest were also rattled by the tremors and aftershocks.
“It shook quite strongly here. Everyone is awake,” said government official Jagat Prasad Bhusal in Nepal’s Namche region, which lies nearer to Everest.
But no damage or deaths have been reported so far and security forces have been deployed, Nepali Home Ministry spokesman Rishi Ram Tiwari said.
Nepal lies on a major geological fault line where the Indian tectonic plate pushes up into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayas, and earthquakes are a regular occurrence. In 2015, nearly 9,000 people died and more than 22,000 were injured when a 7.8-magnitude quake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes.
People gathering in an open area following tremors in Kathmandu in the early hours on Jan 7.
PHOTO: AFP
Some tremors were felt in Bihar state in India but no injuries were reported.
Three people were killed and dozens injured after a 7-magnitude earthquake struck along the mountainous China-Kyrgyzstan border
A quake in December 2023
That quake was China’s deadliest since 2014 when more than 600 people were killed in south-western Yunnan province.
In the December 2023 earthquake, sub-zero temperatures made the aid operation launched in response even more challenging, with survivors huddled around outdoor fires to keep warm. AFP
