A powerful earthquake struck the highlands of western China and parts of Nepal on Tuesday, damaging hundreds of homes, littering streets and killing at least 126 people in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.
Many others were trapped as dozens of aftershocks rocked the remote region. Rescuers climbed piles of broken bricks, some using ladders in heavily damaged villages, as they searched for survivors.
Video footage released by China’s Ministry of Emergency Management shows two people carried by workers on stretchers trampling over the rubble of collapsed houses.
At least 188 people were injured in Tibet on the Chinese side of the border, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported that around 1,000 houses had been damaged, citing the Tibet Earthquake Relief Headquarters.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1 and was relatively shallow at a depth of about 10 kilometers. China recorded a magnitude of 6.8.
Over the past century, there have been 10 earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 in the area hit by Tuesday’s quake, the USGS said.
About 6,900 people live in three settlements and 27 villages within 20 kilometers of the epicenter on the Chinese side, state media announced. The average altitude in this area is about 4200 meters.
Mount Everest area closed
The epicenter – about 75 kilometers northeast of Mount Everest – was in Tibet’s Tingri district, where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet and can cause earthquakes strong enough to change the height of some of the world’s highest peaks in the Himalayan mountains.
About 150 aftershocks were recorded in the nine hours after the quake, and the Mount Everest Scenic Area on the Chinese side was closed.
The area, often crowded with climbers and hikers, was empty in the dead of winter. Many residents move south to avoid the harsh winter.
About 1,500 firefighters and rescuers were engaged in the search for people, the Ministry of Emergency Management announced. About two hundred soldiers joined the search, CCTV reported.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for an all-out effort to rescue people, reduce the number of casualties and resettle those whose homes were damaged. Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing was sent to the area to lead the work, which CCTV said involved more than 3,000 rescuers.
Tibet is part of China, but many Tibetans are loyal to the Dalai Lama, a spiritual leader who has lived in exile in India since a failed anti-Chinese uprising in 1959. Western governments and human rights organizations have repeatedly accused the Chinese government of abuses in Tibet, where he crushed dissent while invested heavily in economic development.
About 230 kilometers from the epicenter in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, the earthquake woke residents and sent them running from their homes to the streets.
