The 6.8-magnitude quake struck the sparsely populated Dingri township, located near the China-Nepal border, at 9:05 a.m. (0105 GMT), 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.
“Fifty-three people died and 62 others were injured”indicated the official Xinhua news agency. 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 epicenter of the earthquake was recorded about 177 kilometers southwest of Shigatse, Tibet, and according to the USGS, it occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers. EPA/MAXPPP
“The tremors were very strongly felt in and around the canton of Dingri and many buildings collapsed near the epicenter”indicated CCTV. She reported “multiple replicas” since Tuesday morning, the largest being magnitude 4.4.
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Other images from the 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.
Xinhua reported that local authorities were visiting the various communes of the canton “in order to assess the repercussions of the earthquake”.
Freezing temperatures
Temperatures there are around -8°C during the day and could drop to -18°C tonight, according to China’s National Meteorological Bureau. This high altitude canton has around 62,000 inhabitants and is located not far from the Chinese side of Everest.
While earthquakes are common in the region, Tuesday’s quake was the most powerful recorded within a 200-kilometer radius in the last five years, the CENC said.
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In Nepal, in addition to Kathmandu, the areas around Namche and Lobuche, very close to the Everest base camp, were also hit by the earthquake and its aftershocks.
“It shook quite hard here, everyone is awake but we are not aware of any damage at the moment,” said Jagat Prasad Bhusal, an official in the Namche region in northeastern Nepal.
Precedents
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.
A major earthquake occurred in December 2023 in northwest China and left 148 dead and thousands homeless in Gansu province (northwest).
The earthquake was the deadliest in China since 2014, when more than 600 people were killed in the country’s southwest province of Yunnan.
