powerful earthquake kills at least 53 in Tibet Autonomous Region

Many buildings were affected by this 6.8 magnitude earthquake, according to Chinese authorities.

A deadly earthquake. The autonomous region of Tibet (southwest China) was shaken by a powerful earthquake on Tuesday January 7, killing at least 53 people and causing the collapse of “many buildings”announced Chinese official media. The 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Dingri Township, a sparsely populated area near the Sino-Nepal border, at 9:05 a.m. (local time, 2:05 a.m. in Paris), according to China’s national earthquake agency. (CENC).

The American Geological Survey (USGS) for its part reported an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 in the region. Videos broadcast by Chinese public television CCTV show white-colored homes at high altitude, with gutted walls and collapsed roofs, with numerous stones littering the ground. The earthquake was felt as far away as neighboring Nepal, state media reported. On the social network X, Tibetan journalist Palden Gyal shared images of desperate residents after the tremors.

Other sequences from the CCTV channel show firefighters in helmets and orange outfits heading towards the scene of the disaster, or even SUVs in a street, buried under bricks from the affected buildings. “Fifty-three people died and 62 others were injured”reported the official Xinhua news agency, citing the authorities. A previous provisional report reported nine deaths. “The tremors were very strongly felt in and around the canton of Dingri and many buildings collapsed near the epicenter”CCTV said. She reported “multiple replicas” since Tuesday morning, the largest being magnitude 4.4.

This high altitude canton has around 62,000 inhabitants and is located not far from the Chinese side of Everest. Temperatures there are around -8°C during the day and could drop to -18°C tonight, according to China’s National Meteorological Bureau. If earthquakes are frequent in the region, Tuesday’s earthquake is the most powerful recorded within a radius of 200 kilometers over the last five years, underlined the CENC.