More than 400 people trapped by a strong earthquake in the foothills of the Himalayas have been rescued, Chinese officials said, while more than 30,000 residents have been relocated, as the search for survivors entered a second day yesterday.
The epicenter of Tuesday’s magnitude 6.8 quake, one of the region’s most powerful tremors over the past few years, was in Tingri County in China’s Tibet region, about 80km north of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. It also shook buildings in neighboring Nepal, Bhutan and India.
Twenty-four hours after the temblor struck, survivors trapped under rubble would have endured a night in sub-zero temperatures, and be at risk of succumbing to hypothermia and dehydration.
Photo: Xinhua via AP
An initial survey showed 3,609 homes had been destroyed in the Shigatse region of Tibet, which is home to 800,000 people, Chinese state media reported late on Tuesday, citing local officials.
More than 500 people and 106 ambulances had been dispatched to help the injured.
At least 126 people were known to have been killed and 188 injured on the Tibetan side, China’s state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported.
No deaths have been reported in Nepal or elsewhere.
Temperatures in the high-altitude region dropped to as low as minus-18°C overnight, adding to the misery of those left homeless.
Tents, food rations, electrical generators and other supplies had reached the site by late on Tuesday, and all sections of road damaged by the temblor had been reopened, CCTV added.
Southwestern parts of China, Nepal and northern India are often hit by earthquakes caused by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
More than 500 aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 4.4 had followed the quake as of 8am local time yesterday, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.
Over the past five years, there have been 29 earthquakes with magnitudes of 3 or above within 200km of the epicenter of Tuesday’s temblor, according to Sichuan Province’s earthquake bureau.
In 2008, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake hit Sichuan’s Chengdu, claiming the lives of at least 70,000 people, the deadliest quake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan quake that killed at least 242,000 people.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS