Thousands of homes were damaged in Tibet due to its proximity to the earthquake’s epicenter, prompting regional authorities to launch search and rescue efforts to try to find survivors among the missing.
Authorities have raised to 126 the number of fatalities from the strong earthquake that hit the autonomous region of Tibet, in southwest China, this Tuesday, according to a new report announced by the official Chinese agency.
“A total of 126 deaths and 188 injuries were confirmed at 7 p.m. [11:00 em Lisboa] on Tuesday”, announced Xinhua. The previous estimate of the earthquake, whose magnitude was assessed by Chinese authorities at 6.8 on the Richter scale, was 95 deaths.
The earthquake occurred in Dingri County, about 75 kilometers northeast of Mount Everest, at a depth of ten kilometers below the surface at around 9am local time (1am Lisbon time) and caused around 50 aftershocks and also affected Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and India.
Thousands of homes were damaged due to their proximity to the quake’s epicenter, prompting regional authorities to launch search and rescue efforts to try to find survivors among the missing.
For this purpose, army personnel and dozens of emergency personnel were mobilized, according to the Chinese press. The aftershocks, according to authorities, have so far had a maximum magnitude of 4.4.
The situation led the President of China, Xi Jinping, to order the launch of “all possible efforts to carry out search and rescue work” for the population. He called for the treatment of the injured, the minimization of the number of casualties, the prevention of secondary catastrophes and the displacement of those affected.
“We must strengthen earthquake monitoring and early warning, allocate emergency rescue materials in a timely manner, repair damaged infrastructure as quickly as possible, organize people’s basic living conditions and ensure a safe and warm winter,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Li Qiang called for “accelerating verification” of victims and damage, as the area hit by the earthquake is located in a high-altitude, low-temperature region.
“We are in winter and we have to do everything possible to guarantee the basic subsistence and heating of people in the affected area,” he added.
The governor of Dingri, Tashi Dundup, stated that a safe evacuation of the population was organized to avoid the impact of the aftershocks.
The epicenter zone is where the Indian and Eurasian plates collide and cause rises in the Himalayan mountains strong enough to alter the height of some of the world’s highest peaks.
According to the China Earthquake Network Center, the average altitude in the area around the epicenter is about 4,200 meters.
State television CCTV revealed that there are some communities within a five kilometer radius of the epicenter, which is 380 kilometers from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and about 23 kilometers from the region’s second largest city, Shigatse, known as Xigaze in Chinese.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which assesses earthquakes worldwide, said it recorded an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale in the Himalayan area.
According to the USGS, the epicenter of the earthquake occurred in a desert area of Tibet, 93 kilometers from the city of Lobuche, in the northeast of neighboring Nepal.
In the last century, there were 10 earthquakes of at least 6 magnitude in the area where the earthquake occurred this Tuesday, according to the USGS.
The earthquake was also felt in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, more than 200 kilometers from the epicenter, but no significant damage or injuries have been reported so far.
