New Delhi, Jan 07:
The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck China’s remote Tibet region on Tuesday morning rose to at least 95, Agence France-Presse reported quoting Xinhua news agency.
“A total of 95 people have been confirmed dead and 130 others injured as of 12.30 pm Tuesday,” Xinhua reported.
The quake struck Dingri County with a magnitude of 6.8 near the border with Nepal, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).
The US Geological Survey registered the earthquake with a 7.1 magnitude. Some houses in Dingri collapsed during the earthquake, AFP reported quoting Xinhua, citing a work team stationed in the county.
The news agency said that “local authorities are reaching out to various townships in the county to assess the impact of the quake”.
The high-altitude county in the Tibet region is home to around 62,000 people and is situated on the Chinese side of Mount Everest. While earthquakes are common in the region, Tuesday’s quake was the most powerful recorded within a
95 Killed in Massive
200-kilometre radius in the last five years, the CENC added. Kathmandu Shakes In Tremors In Nepal, the earthquake sent residents running out of their homes in the capital, Kathmandu, Associated Press reported. Streets were filled with people woken up by the tremor.
Areas around Lobuche in Nepal in the high mountains near Mount Everest were also rattled by the tremors and a series of aftershocks.
“It shook quite strongly here, everyone is awake, but we don’t know about any damages yet,” AP quoted government official Jagat Prasad Bhusal in Nepal’s Namche region, which lies nearer to Everest.
Meera Adhikari, a resident of Kathmandu, told ANI, “I was sleeping at the time (when the earthquake struck). The bed was shaking and I thought my child was moving the bed, I didn’t pay that much attention but the shaking of the window prompted me that it was an earthquake. I then hurriedly called my child and evacuated the house and came to the open ground.”
Nepal lies on a major geological faultline where the Indian tectonic plate pushes up into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayas, and earthquakes are a regular occurrence.
Tremors Felt In North India
Tremors were felt across parts of North India, including Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim and Delhi-NCR on Tuesday morning.
The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) reported that the earthquake occurred at 6:35 am with its epicentre at a latitude of 28.86 degrees North and longitude 87.51 degrees East, at a depth of 10 kilometres. Two subsequent earthquakes were recorded in the region shortly after. A 4.7 magnitude tremor was reported at 7:02 am with its epicentre at latitude 28.60 degrees North and longitude 87.68 degrees East, at a depth of 10 kilometres. Minutes later, at 7:07 am, another earthquake of magnitude 4.9 was registered at latitude 28.68 degrees North and longitude 87.54 degrees East, at a depth of 30 kilometres. The tremors were strongly felt in parts of Bihar, prompting people to rush out of their homes and apartments in panic.
Apart from the capital Patna, the earthquake was also felt in more than half of the districts of Bihar including Purnia, Madhubani, Shivhar, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Motihari and Siwan. People got scared by the tremors and came out of their homes. People were scared to see swinging in many houses.
“I woke up in the morning and made tea for my husband. He was drinking his tea when the teacup in his hand began to shake. Meanwhile, the fans in the house also started swinging on their own. We realised that the ground was shaking beneath us. It became clear that there was an earthquake.,” said Shweta Devi, a resident of Purnia. There are no reports of any casualties so far.
India on Tuesday expressed condolences on the deaths of over 100 people caused by a massive 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck the Tibet Autonomous Region.
In a post on X, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said:
“Government and people of India express condolences on the tragic loss of life and property caused by the devastating earthquake in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”
More than 100 people are reported to have been killed after a powerful earthquake struck the Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning, with tremors felt in Nepal, Bhutan and parts of northern India.
The 7.1-magnitude quake struck at 9:05 a.m. local time at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) and was followed by multiple aftershocks, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
More than 170 people were injured, while around 3,000 houses were damaged, said state outlet China News Service.
The quake’s epicenter was located in Tingri county high on the Tibetan plateau, close to the border with Nepal, reports said.
Videos published by China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed destroyed houses and collapsed buildings in Tibet’s holy Shigatse city.
