KUMASI, Jan 7 (Futball Surgery)- A high magnitude earthquake has struck China’s Tibet region on Tuesday morning killing more than 95 people and injuring at least 130, according to a Chinese media.
The number of casualties was first under reported for the incident, with the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC) saying at least 53 people were killed and 62 others injured.
“Fifty-three people have been confirmed dead, and 62 others injured as of Tuesday noon, after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Dingri County in the city of Xigaze in Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region at 9:05 am Tuesday,” the official Xinhua news agency said.
The state media in its updated reporting showed increased casualties with 95 dead and more than 130 injured as of Tuesday morning with all casualties in the Chinese region despite strong aftermath effects in Nepal and India.
The quake of magnitude 6.8, according to CENC but the US Geological Survey has measured it 7.1 on the Richter scale, struck one of Tibet’s holiest cities Shigatse, and Dingri county near the border with Nepal.
Aside death and injuries, the quake also collapsed “many buildings” in the affected region, and tremors felt in neighbouring Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and parts of India.
That is Videos published by Chinese broadcaster CCTV showing destroyed houses with walls torn apart and rubble strewn across the Tibet region in aftermath of the earthquake. China’s Xinhua News Agency said more than 1,000 houses are damaged.
The CENC has added that Tuesday’s strike is the most powerful earthquake recorded within a 200-kilometre radius in the last five years, though the zone is not new to earthquake strikes.
The China Meteorological Administration as reported by AFP says temperatures in epicenter Dingri, home to about 62,000 people and situated on the Chinese side of Mount Everest, are around -8 C and will drop to minus 18 Tuesday evening.
Rescue efforts and drones have been launched by Chinese air force to the affected area amid the below-freezing conditions.
About 22, 000 items of cotton tents, cotton coats, quilts and folding beds have also been sent to Tibet region.
A man in Kathmandu, the Nepal Police spokesman Bishwa Adhikari to Reuters said was injured after jumping off the top of a house following strong tremors but no other casualties or damages have been reported so far from Nepal, India and Bhutan.
