Holding out hope: A rescuer searching a house for survivors with a rescue dog after the earthquake at Cuoguo township in Shigatse. — AFP
Over 400 people trapped by rubble in earthquake-stricken Tibet were rescued, Chinese officials said, with an unknown number still unaccounted for after a tremor rocked the Himalayan foothills and shifted the region’s landscape.
The epicentre of Tuesday’s magnitude 6.8 quake, one of the region’s most powerful tremors in recent years, was located in Tingri in China’s Tibet, about 80km north of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain.
It also shook buildings in neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and India.
The quake was so strong that part of the terrain at and around the epicentre slipped as much as 1.6m over a distance of 80km, according to an analysis by the United States Geological Survey.
Twenty-four hours after the temblor struck, those trapped under rubble would have endured a night in sub-zero temperatures, adding to the pressure on rescuers looking for survivors in an area the size of Cambodia.
Temperatures in the high-altitude region dropped as low as -18ºC overnight.
People trapped or those without shelter are at risk of rapid hypothermia and may only be able to live for five to 10 hours even if uninjured, experts say.
At least 126 people were known to have been killed and 188 injured on the Tibetan side, state broadcaster CCTV reported yesterday. No deaths have been reported in Nepal or elsewhere.
Chinese authorities have yet to announce how many people are still missing.
In Nepal, an official said the quake destroyed a school building in a village near Mount Everest, which straddles the Nepali-Tibetan border.
No one was inside at the time.
To safer ground: Rescuers escorting the injured at Zhacun Village of Dingri county in Shigatse, southwest China’s Tibet autonomous region. — AP
German climber Jost Kobusch said he was just above the Everest base camp on the Nepali side when the quake struck.
His tent shook violently and he saw several avalanches crash down. He was unscathed.
“I’m climbing Everest in the winter by myself and... looks like basically I’m the only mountaineer there, in the base camp there’s nobody,” he said in a video call.
But in Tibet, the damage was extensive.
An initial survey showed 3,609 homes had been destroyed in the Shigatse region, home to 800,000 people, state media reported late on Tuesday.
Over 1,800 emergency rescue personnel and 1,600 soldiers had been deployed.
Footage broadcast on CCTV showed families huddled in rows of blue and green tents quickly erected by soldiers and aid workers in settlements surrounding the epicentre, where hundreds of aftershocks have been recorded.
State media said over 30,000 people affected by the quake had been relocated.
Home to some 60,000 people, Tingri is Tibet’s most populous county on China’s border with Nepal and is administered from the city of Shigatse, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism.
No damage has been reported to Shigatse’s Tashilhunpo monastery, state media reported, founded in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama.
The 14th and current Dalai Lama, along with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, have expressed condolences to the earthquake’s victims.
More than 500 aftershocks were recorded after the earthquake, which the US Geological Survey said measured magnitude 7.1.
China’s earthquake centre recorded a magnitude of 6.8.
The dead included at least 22 of the 222 residents of Gurum, the official Xinhua News Agency cited the village’s Communist Party chief, Tsering Phuntsog, as saying.
The victims included his 74-year-old mother, and several other of his relatives remained buried in the debris.
“Even young people couldn’t run out of the houses when the earthquake hit, let alone old people and children,” Tsering Phuntsog said.
Authorities said more than 12,000 people, including firefighters, soldiers, police officers and professional rescuers had been deployed, Xinhua reported.
Aid, including tents, quilts and cold-weather equipment, had been dispatched by central authorities, it added.
When tourist Meng Lingkang arrived in the town of Lhatse, 65km from the epicentre, he saw “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,” said the 23-year-old.
“There were quite a few (rescue vehicles). One after the other they arrived,” he added.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping ordered “all-out rescue efforts to save lives and minimise casualties,” Xinhua reported.
Communications in the area have also been restored, allowing smoother delivery of emergency goods, it said. — Agencies
