Hong Kong – A magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred near a place TibetAn attack in the holy city on Tuesday killed at least 95 people, Chinese state media reported.
The earthquake was recorded just after 9 a.m. (8 p.m. ET Monday) and was centered at a depth of nearly 6 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Chinese authorities recorded a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Tingri County, Shigatse. Shigatse is about 240 miles from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and is the seat of the Panchen Lama, the second most important spiritual figure in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama.
At least 95 people were killed and 130 others injured, according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency. Many houses collapsed near the epicenter, and some people were trapped.
About 6,900 people live in more than two dozen villages about 12 miles from the epicenter, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Residents in the area said the flimsy construction of homes near the epicenter contributed to the high number of casualties.
Sangji Dangzhi, 34, whose supermarket was vandalized in nearby Tingri county, told AFP the situation was “very serious”.
“The houses here are made of mud, so when the earthquake came… many houses collapsed,” Toshi added.
Video from Shigatse Lazi County, near the epicenter, showed advertising boards torn apart and in some cases roofs and walls of buildings completely collapsed.
Other videos showed several vehicles being shaken violently by debris and roads strewn with rubble and fallen trees. The concrete blocks that previously formed the sidewalk are a jumbled mess.
Liu Huazhong, deputy mayor of Shigatse, told a press conference that Chinese authorities have dispatched more than 3,400 firefighting and military personnel and 340 medical personnel to the area.
Liu added that 150 vehicles equipped with search and rescue equipment had been dispatched, and power outages were reported in several areas.
“Each township has urgently allocated a batch of self-heating rice, mineral water, instant noodles, cold-proof clothing, cold-proof shoes, blankets, beds, tents and other disaster relief materials.”
The earthquake was also felt in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, 250 miles away, and local residents were awakened.
No damage was immediately reported there.
Earthquakes are common in the Himalayan region, which straddles the fault line between the Eurasian and Indian plates. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, 10 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above occurred within a 150-mile radius of Tuesday’s epicenter over the past century.
In 2008, a major earthquake hit Sichuan Province in southwestern China, killing nearly 70,000 people.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake in 2015 killed nearly 9,000 people and damaged nearly a million buildings in Nepal, making it one of the worst earthquakes in the country’s history.
