Dozens of people were killed and hundreds of buildings collapsed after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck near one of Tibet's holiest cities, near the Himalayan border with Nepal on Tuesday. Tremors were felt in Nepal.
The quake struck just after 9 a.m. at a depth of 6.2 miles in Dingri County in Tibet, Chinese state media reported. The state news agency, Xinhua, said at least 93 people had died, and rescue teams had been deployed to find more victims. Xinhua published a video of police clearing debris and clearing debris.
China's state broadcaster reported that more than 1,000 houses had collapsed in Dingri County.
Several aftershocks were felt in the region, including in Nepal. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1, according to the United States Geological Survey, although it was rated as 6.8 by the China Earthquake Networks Center.
The city closest to the epicenter was Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet, with a population of 640,000. Shigatse is considered a sacred place as the seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the highest figures in Tibetan Buddhism.
A tourist living near Shigatse who spoke to The Times newspaper said that he was in his hotel room when the earthquake started shaking his building. He said the electricity went out and he and his friend crouched between the beds. When the shaking stopped, they ran out of the building.
The visitor, who gave only his last name, Xu, shared a video showing one-story brick buildings with collapsed walls.
The Himalayan region is prone to strong earthquakes. In 2015, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal killed nearly 9,000 people. In Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, residents streamed out of their homes this morning as the quake toppled buildings.
“Based on the magnitude of the earthquake, there may be damage to the mountains in eastern Nepal,” said Lok Bijaya Adhikari, a senior seismologist at the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center of Nepal.
Most of the residents from the high mountain areas of Nepal such as Everest, Makalu, Rolwaling and Kanchenjunga have moved to the lower areas to avoid the extreme cold of winter.
“Although many people migrate to lower areas during the winter, some are still there,” said Ang Tshering Sherpa, former head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. “There is always a risk of avalanches and avalanches after an earthquake.”
Berry Wang reporting contributed.
Source link
