Videos broadcast by Chinese state television CCTV show homes with gutted walls and collapsed roofs, with stones littering the ground. Other images from the channel show partially buried vehicles or customers of a convenience store fleeing the store when the earthquake knocks products from the shelves.
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.
According to authorities, more than 3,400 rescuers and more than 340 medical workers have been deployed. Authorities have sent emergency aid, including cotton tents, quilts and other equipment to withstand the harsh weather conditions, Xinhua said.
For his part, the Dalai Lama, the main figure of Tibetan Buddhism, who lives in exile, said he was “deeply saddened” by the disaster. France, for its part, offered “its assistance to help the affected Himalayan populations”, through a message from President Emmanuel Macron on X.
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.
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 the southwest province of Yunnan.
In May 2008, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake left 87,000 people dead or missing in the province of Sichuan (southwest). The disaster was a national shock.
