Rescuers Search For Survivors After Deadly Tibet Earthquake

A powerful earthquake in China’s remote Tibet region killed at least 126 people and collapsed “many buildings” on Tuesday, state media reported, with tremors also felt in neighbouring Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and parts of India.

Videos published by China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed destroyed houses with walls torn apart and rubble strewn across the ruins in the aftermath of the earthquake.
The quake struck Dingri county with a magnitude of 6.8 near the border with Nepal at 09:05, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

While earthquakes are common in the region, Tuesday’s quake was the most powerful recorded within a 200-kilometre radius in the last five years, the CENC added.
The US Geological Survey reported the tremor as magnitude 7.1.

Thousands of rescuers arrived Tibet to continue the search for survivors, More than 400 people have been rescued, Chinese state media says.

Videos published by state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday showed rescue workers pulling injured victims from the rubble of collapsed buildings and carrying them to safety.

Footage also showed a man in a dusty, thick winter coat carrying a crying child piggyback as a rescue worker draped a jacket over him.
At least 126 people have been confirmed dead and 188 others injured in the Tuesday morning quake that struck rural, high-altitude Tingri county, about 80 kilometres north of Mount Everest near China’s border with Nepal.

More than 3600 houses have collapsed potentially leaving thousands without shelter and over 30000 residents have been relocated, the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that the search for trapped victims is ongoing.
“Rescuers are also racing against time to set up tents for relocated residents in an area where temperatures are forecast to drop,” it added.

The temperature in Tingri is currently minus 11 degrees Celsius, according to the China Meteorological Administration. The county sits at an average altitude of 4500 metres above sea level.

Authorities said more than 12000 people, including firefighters, soldiers, police officers and professional rescuers had been deployed, Xinhua reported.
Aid including tents, quilts and cold-weather equipment had been dispatched by central authorities, it added.

When tourist Meng Lingkang arrived in the town of Lhatse, 65 kilometres from the epicentre, he saw “the buildings had cracked open”.
“Some of the older houses collapsed, and a large part of the buildings made from bricks had cracked open, with big fissures,” the 23-year-old told AFP.
“There were quite a few (rescue vehicles). One after the other they arrived,” he added.

While strong tremors were felt in Nepal, no major damage or casualties were reported, an official from the National Emergency Operations Centre confirmed only “minor damages and cracks on houses”.

The tremors on Tuesday morning, which sent many Kathmandu residents running out of their houses, brought back memories of the deadly 2015 quake. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit near Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people and injuring more than 20,000.

“In 2015, when the earthquake hit, I could not even move,” Manju Neupane, a shop owner in Kathmandu said . “Today the situation was not scary like that. But, I am scared that another major earthquake may hit us and we will be trapped between tall buildings.”