China | Powerful earthquake kills at least 95 people in Tibet

(Beijing) A powerful earthquake that occurred Tuesday in the Himalayan region of Tibet, in southwest China, left at least 95 dead and caused the collapse of numerous buildings, an earthquake felt as far as neighboring Nepal.

Videos broadcast by Chinese state television CCTV show white 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.

The 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Tingri township, located not far from the China-Nepal border, at 9:05 a.m. (8:05 p.m. Eastern Time), according to China’s national disaster agency. earthquakes (CENC). The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a magnitude of 7.1.

“In total, 95 people died and 130 others were injured,” according to the latest count, the official Xinhua news agency said. A previous report reported 53 deaths.

“Many buildings collapsed near the epicenter,” CCTV also indicated.

The situation is “very serious”, Sangji Dangzhi, 34, whose supermarket located in Tingri canton suffered considerable damage, told AFP by telephone. He said ambulances were transporting people to hospital all day.

“The houses are built of earth here, so when the earthquake happened, many houses collapsed,” he explained.

“Deeply saddened”

Surrounded by mountains, at high altitude, the canton of Tingri is located in an undeveloped area. The epicenter is about 370 km southwest of the regional capital Lhasa, according to CENC data.

Firefighters in orange uniforms arrived at the scene, amid rubble and among survivors and elderly people wrapped in blankets, according to CCTV images.

Authorities have sent emergency aid, including cotton tents, quilts and other useful equipment to withstand the harsh weather conditions, Xinhua said.

Temperatures in the area are around -8°C during the day and could drop to -18°C tonight, according to China’s National Meteorological Bureau.

The canton of Tingri 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.

For his part, the Dalai Lama, the main figure of Tibetan Buddhism, who lives in exile, said he was “deeply saddened” by the disaster.

“I offer my prayers to all those who lost their lives and wish a speedy recovery to all those who were injured,” he said in a statement released by his services.

Murderous precedents

While earthquakes are common in the region, Tuesday’s was the most powerful recorded within a 200-kilometer radius in the last five years, the CENC said.

In Nepal, the earthquake, which was particularly felt in the capital Kathmandu, struck areas around Namche and Lobuche, very close to Everest base camp.

But no deaths have been reported so far, said Nepali Interior Ministry spokesperson Rishi Ram Tiwari.

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 in the Chinese province of Gansu (northwest). In 2014, more than 600 people were killed in Yunnan province, in the southwest of the country.

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.