Tibet quake rescue saves over 400 trapped people

More than 400 people trapped by a strong earthquake in the foothills of the Himalayas have been rescued, Chinese officials said, while over 30,000 residents have been relocated.

The epicenter of Tuesday’s magnitude 6.8 quake, one of the region’s most powerful tremors in recent years, was located in Tingri in China’s Tibet region, about 80 km 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 will have endured a night in sub-zero temperatures and be at risk of succumbing to hypothermia and dehydration.

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, 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. No deaths have been reported in Nepal or elsewhere.

Temperatures in the high-altitude region dropped to as low as minus 18 degrees Celsius overnight, adding to the misery of those left homeless.

Tents, food rations, electrical generators and other supplies had reached the site, and all sections of road damaged by the temblor had been reopened.

Southwestern parts of China, Nepal and northern India are often hit by earthquakes caused by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, which are pushing up an ancient sea that is now the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

The entire plateau is seismically active, as well as its eastern and northern rims, which overlap with the Chinese provinces and regions of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai.

Beijing, which administers Tibet as an autonomous region within China, rejects criticism from rights groups and exiles who accuse it of trampling on the religious and cultural rights of the Tibetan people.