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Tuesday 7 January 2025 - 12:17

China: Devastating Earthquake Kills At Least 53

Story Code : 1182933
China: Devastating Earthquake Kills At Least 53
The United States Geological Survey [USGS] said the 7.1-magnitude quake struck at 9:05 a.m. local time and was followed by multiple aftershocks.

Both the USGS and the China Earthquake Networks Center said the epicenter was high up in the remote Tibetan plateau close to the Himalayan border with Nepal, around 80 kilometers north of Mount Everest.

Another 62 people were injured in the quake, while more than 1,000 houses were damaged in Tingri county, where the epicenter is located, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The tremors were felt as far as Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. “It was very strong. People came running out of their houses. You could see the wires from poles shaken loose,” said Bishal Nath Upreti from the Nepal Centre for Disaster Management, a non-government organization in Kathmandu.

Chinese social media videos geolocated by CNN showed damaged roofs, shop fronts and debris piling on the streets of Lhatse county, some 86 kilometers from the epicenter. Some cars and motorcycles parked along the road were also damaged, the footage showed.

The region close to the epicenter is sparsely populated but small villages are nestled in isolated and often hard to access Himalayan valleys. About 6,900 people are estimated to live in 27 villages within a 20-km radius of the epicenter, according to Xinhua.

Tingri county’s tourism bureau closed the entrance to a popular scenic area, which includes the Chinese base camp for climbing Mount Everest. Winter is not the popular season for climbing the world’s highest mountain, but some Chinese tourists still visit the scenic area for breathtaking views of the Himalayan mountains.

In Nepal’s Solukhumbu district, just across the border from the Chinese county at the epicenter, the tremors brought back memories of the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck near Kathmandu in 2015, killing about 9,000 people and injuring thousands.

In Tibet, rescue teams including the Chinese air force have joined in search efforts, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Three villages had lost their phone signals by noon, according to the broadcaster.

A total of 49 aftershocks were recorded as of noon Monday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
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