Tibet Earthquake Update: 95 killed, 130 injured
The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, said he was deeply saddened.
Tibet Earthquake – An earthquake measuring around 7 on the Richter scale hit Tibet on Tuesday (January 7), killing around 100 people and damaging about 1,000 houses. Its epicentre was about 75 kilometres northeast of Mount Everest and close to Nepal, but no major damage was reported there.
According to the United States Geological Survey, 10 earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 have occurred in the area impacted on Tuesday over the past century.
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According to a Reuters report, the earthquake’s epicentre was about 80 km (50 miles) north of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. Tremors also shook buildings in neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and India.
The China Earthquake Networks Centre located the epicentre at Tingri county, known as the northern gateway to the Everest region, at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).
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The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, said he was deeply saddened.
“I offer my prayers for those who have lost their lives and extend my wishes for a swift recovery to all who have been injured,” the Nobel peace laureate said in a message.
According to an AFP report, rescue workers had to wade through rubble to look for those trapped.
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Sangji Dangzhi, whose supermarket in Tingri suffered considerable damage, while speaking to AFP described the situation as “very serious”, with ambulances taking people to hospital throughout the day.
“Here the houses are made from dirt so when the earthquake came… lots of houses collapsed,” the 34-year-old said.
Surveillance images published by CCTV showed people running through a store’s aisles as shelves shook violently, sending objects like toys tumbling to the ground.
When tourist Meng Lingkang arrived in the town of Lhatse, 65 kilometres from the epicentre, where he had booked a restaurant, “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.
Videos geolocated by AFP to Lhatse showed debris scattered in front of streetside eateries.
Since 1950, there have been 21 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above in what is know as the Lhasa block, the largest of which was the 6.9-magnitude quake in Mainling in 2017, according to CCTV.
