A powerful earthquake struck Tibet on Tuesday, killing at least 53 people and leaving many others trapped as dozens of aftershocks shook western China and areas across the border in Nepal.
China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that 62 people were injured, according to the regional disaster relief headquarters. Around 1,500 fire and rescue workers have been deployed to search for survivors amid the rubble, the Ministry of Emergency Management confirmed.
The US Geological Survey recorded the earthquake at magnitude 7.1 and described it as relatively shallow, with a depth of 10 kilometres (6 miles). Chinese authorities, however, measured it at magnitude 6.8.
The epicentre was located about 75 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Mount Everest, a seismically active area where the collision of the India and Eurasia tectonic plates causes uplifts in the Himalayan mountains, sometimes altering the heights of the world’s tallest peaks.
According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, the epicentre is in a region with an average altitude of 4,200 metres (13,800 feet). State broadcaster CCTV reported that several small communities exist within 5 kilometres (3 miles) of the epicentre, which is 380 kilometres (240 miles) from Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, and 23 kilometres (14 miles) from Shigatse, also known as Xigaze in Chinese, the region’s second-largest city.
The earthquake was also felt 230 kilometres (140 miles) away in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, where residents fled their homes in fear. No immediate updates have been provided from the remote, mountainous areas of Nepal closer to the epicentre.
The US Geological Survey stated that the region where the earthquake struck has experienced 10 quakes of at least magnitude 6 over the past century. Rescue operations are ongoing, but the high-altitude, rugged terrain is expected to challenge relief efforts as authorities work to assess the full extent of the damage.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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