A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the Himalayan region of Tibet, in southwest China, on Tuesday January 7, shortly after 9 a.m. (2 a.m. Paris time).
This earthquake killed at least 53 people and caused the collapse of numerous buildings. It was felt as far away as neighboring Nepal.
Its epicenter was located in the canton of Dingri, which has around 62,000 inhabitants, located in the southwest of Tibet, around 370 km from the capital Lhasa, not far from the border with Nepal.
Videos, broadcast by Chinese public television CCTV, show homes with gutted walls and collapsed roofs, with stones littering the ground.
Other images, broadcast by the channel, show vehicles buried under bricks or even customers fleeing a supermarket at the time of the earthquake.
“Fifty-three people died and 62 others were injured”indicated the official Xinhua news agency. A previous provisional report reported 32 deaths.
According to CCTV, “the tremors were very strongly felt in and around the canton of Dingri and many buildings collapsed near the epicenter”.
Freezing temperatures
According to the Xinhua news agency, local authorities are visiting the different communes of the canton of Dingri “in order to assess the repercussions of the earthquake”.
Chinese authorities also sent emergency aid to the area, including cotton tents, quilts and other useful equipment to withstand the freezing temperatures.
It is currently -8°C during the day in Tibet and temperatures could drop to -18°C tonight, according to the Chinese National Meteorological Bureau.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for “do everything possible to carry out search and rescue operations as well as to treat the injured”. “Everything must be done to minimize human losses” and “rehouse those affected”he indicated.
Murderous precedents
While earthquakes are common in the region, Tuesday’s earthquake was the most powerful recorded within a 200 km radius in the last five years.
In Nepal, the earthquake, which was felt as far away as the capital Kathmandu, mainly hit the areas around Namche and Lobuche, very close to the Everest base camp.
“It shook quite hard here, everyone is awake but we are not aware of any damage at the moment”said an official from the Namche region in northeastern Nepal.
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 2014, an earthquake also killed more than 600 people in Yunnan province, China, located right next to Tibet.
And in 2008, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake killed 87,000 people in Sichuan province, also bordering Tibet.
