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 Switzerland), 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.
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.
“In total, 95 people died and 130 others injured” according to the latest count, said the official Xinhua news agency. A previous provisional report reported 53 deaths.
“The tremors were very strongly felt in and around Dingri canton and many buildings collapsed near the epicenter,” CCTV said.
Freezing temperatures
In the small town of Lhatse, videos geotagged by AFP show debris scattered in front of restaurants on a street. The epicenter is about 370 km southwest of the regional capital Lhasa, according to CENC data.
Xinhua reported that local authorities were visiting the various communes of Dingri canton “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 called for “every effort to carry out search and rescue operations as well as treat the injured”, according to CCTV.
“Everything must be done to minimize human losses” and “rehouse those affected,” he said.
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.
Murderous precedents
In Nepal, the earthquake, which was particularly felt in the capital Kathmandu, struck areas around Namche and Lobuche, very close to Everest base camp.
“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.
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.
An earthquake in December 2023 left 148 dead and thousands homeless in the Chinese province of Gansu (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.
In May 2008, a very powerful earthquake, measuring 7.9, left 87,000 people dead or missing in the province of Sichuan (southwest). The disaster was a national shock.
