Natural disaster –
Tibet earthquake death toll rises to 126
A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Tibet early on Tuesday, killing at least 126 people and injuring 188, according to Chinese authorities.
People gather outdoors in Kathmandu, Nepal, after tremors from a powerful earthquake, Monday, Jan. 7, 2025, with debris and damaged buildings visible.
AFP
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A powerful earthquake that occurred Tuesday in the Himalayan region of Tibet, in southwest China, left 126 dead, according to a new report announced by the Xinhua news agency. It also caused the collapse of “numerous buildings” and was felt as far away as neighboring Nepal.
“A total of 126 dead and 188 injured were confirmed as of 7:00 p.m. (11:00 GMT) on Tuesday,” the official Chinese agency announced.
The previous toll was 95 dead during this 6.8 magnitude earthquake which shook the canton of Dingri at 9:05 a.m. (01:05 GMT), the Xinhua news agency said. A previous report reported 53 deaths.
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.
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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.
“Fifty-three people died and 62 others were injured,” the official Xinhua news agency said. A previous provisional report reported 32 deaths. “The tremors were very strongly felt in and around Dingri canton and many buildings collapsed near the epicenter,” CCTV said.
Freezing temperatures
The epicenter of the earthquake was about 370 km southwest of the regional capital Lhasa, according to CENC data. New China indicated that local authorities were going to the various communes of the canton “in order to assess the repercussions of the earthquake”.
This high altitude canton has around 62,000 inhabitants and is located not far from the Chinese side of Everest. Temperatures there are around -8°C during the day and could drop to -18°C tonight, according to China’s National Meteorological Bureau.
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, 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.
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.
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