In Tibet, a powerful earthquake kills at least 53 people

A powerful earthquake that occurred this Tuesday, January 7 in the Himalayan region of Tibet, in southwest China, left at least 53 dead and caused the collapse of numerous buildings, an earthquake felt as far as neighboring Nepal.

The 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the canton of Dingri, located not far from the Sino-Nepalese border, at 9:05 a.m. (2:05 a.m. in Paris), according to the Chinese national earthquake agency (CENC). The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a magnitude of 7.1.

Videos broadcast by Chinese state television CCTV show high-altitude white-colored homes with gutted walls and collapsed roofs, with stones littering the ground. Other images from the channel show vehicles buried under bricks or customers of a convenience store fleeing the store when the earthquake causes the products on the shelves to fall to the ground.

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Firefighters in orange uniforms arrived at the scene of the disaster, amid rubble and near survivors and elderly people wrapped in blankets, according to CCTV videos.

“Fifty-three people died and 62 others were injured”indicated the official Xinhua news agency. A previous provisional report reported 32 deaths. “The tremors were very strongly felt in and around the canton of Dingri and many buildings collapsed near the epicenter”CCTV said.

Freezing temperatures

The epicenter is about 370 km southwest of the regional capital Lhasa, according to CENC data.

The Xinhua news agency indicated that local authorities were going to the different communes of the canton of Dingri “in order to assess the repercussions of the earthquake”. Authorities have sent emergency aid, including cotton tents, quilts and other equipment useful to withstand the harsh weather conditions, the agency said. Temperatures there are around -8°C during the day and could drop to -18°C tonight, according to China’s National Meteorological Bureau. The canton of Dingri has around 62,000 inhabitants and is located not far from the Chinese side of Everest.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for “do everything possible to carry out search and rescue operations as well as to treat the injured”according to CCTV. “Everything must be done to minimize human losses” et “rehouse those affected”he indicated.

If earthquakes are frequent in the region, this Tuesday’s earthquake is the most powerful recorded within a radius of 200 kilometers in the last five years, said the CENC. In Nepal, the earthquake, which was particularly felt in the capital Kathmandu, struck areas around Namche and Lobuche, very close to Everest base camp.

The Himalayas lie on the divide between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates and experience regular seismic activity. In 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed nearly 9,000 people and injured more than 22,000 in Nepal, destroying more than 500,000 homes. In May 2008, a very powerful earthquake, measuring 7.9, left 87,000 dead or missing in the province of Sichuan (southwest). The disaster was a national shock.