Using hands and shovels in freezing conditions, rescuers dug through rubble in search of survivors after a deadly 7.1-magnitude earthquake jolted people in remote Tibet on Tuesday near the northern foothills of Mount Everest.
At least 95 people were killed and 130 injured in the earthquake, which struck after nine o’clock in the morning at a depth of 6.2 kilometers in Dingri County, near one of the holiest cities in Tibet, in western China, state media reported. The earthquake in western China was the country’s worst since December 2023, when 151 people died in a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in the northwestern provinces of Gansu and Qinghai.
China’s state broadcaster reported that more than 1,000 houses had collapsed in Dingri County, which borders the Himalayas and Nepal. Scenes of the carnage were broadcast on social media and shared on social media.
Rescue efforts were being carried out without large equipment, underscoring the challenge of delivering services to the most remote communities affected by the earthquake. With temperatures in the region dropping to minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees Celsius), rescuers have a short window to find survivors. It was not clear how many residents were displaced by the earthquake.
Several aftershocks were felt in the region, including in Nepal. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1, according to the United States Geological Survey, although it was rated as 6.8 by the China Earthquake Networks Center.
The city closest to the epicenter was Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet, with a population of 640,000. Shigatse is considered a sacred place as the seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the highest figures in Tibetan Buddhism. It was not clear if any of Shigatse’s monasteries were destroyed.
Tibet is still one of the most inaccessible and underdeveloped parts of China. Security has been tightened for decades because of tensions between Beijing and Tibetans, many of whom have long struggled to maintain their religious freedom and cultural identity in the Han Chinese-ruled country. Foreign journalists are banned from traveling independently in the region.
A tourist not far from Shigatse who spoke to the New York Times said he was in his hotel room when the earthquake started shaking his building. He said the electricity went out and he and his friend crouched between the beds. When the shaking stopped, they ran out of the building.
The visitor, who gave only his last name, Xu, shared a video showing one-story brick buildings with collapsed walls. A video posted on Chinese social media shows roads littered with debris, cars crushed by fallen bricks, and roads opened up due to mudslides. Ms. Xu said she grabbed her jacket before going out.
China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has ordered officials to evacuate casualties and resettle survivors. Chinese authorities have sent 1,500 rescuers and more than 250 vehicles to the search effort.
The Himalayan region is prone to strong earthquakes. In 2015, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal killed nearly 9,000 people. In Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, residents streamed out of their homes this morning as the quake toppled buildings.
At least two people, one in Kathmandu and one in Sindhupalchowk, a district north of Kathmandu, suffered minor injuries as a result of the earthquake, according to Nepalese police.
Nepal has sent more than 2,500 police officers to assess the damage and look for victims.
“Based on the magnitude of the earthquake, there may be some damage to the mountains in eastern Nepal,” said Lok Bijaya Adhikari, a senior seismologist at the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center of Nepal.
Most of the residents from the high mountain areas of Nepal such as Everest, Makalu, Rolwaling and Kanchenjunga have moved to the lower areas to avoid the extreme cold of winter.
“Although many people migrate to lower areas during the winter, some are still there,” said Ang Tshering Sherpa, former head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. “There is always a risk of avalanches and avalanches after an earthquake.”