At least 95 reported dead as strong quake strikes near holy Shigatse city – as it happened

At least 95 people were killed and 130 others reported injured after a major earthquake struck the mountainous Tibet region this morning, according to Chinese state media. The area most affected is surrounded by mountainous terrain on the Chinese side of Mount Everest. Tingri, the centre, is home to about 62,000 people, and is much less developed than urban centres like Tibet’s capital Lhasa. State media said the initial earthquake was followed by a number of aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 4.4. About 1,000 houses were damaged in the quake, which hit at 9.05am local time. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was centred in the Tibet region at a depth of about 10km (6 miles). It measured the tremor at magnitude 7.1. Tremors were felt in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, where residents ran from their houses. They were also felt in the northern Indian state of Bihar, which borders Nepal. Tuesday’s quake was the most powerful recorded within a 200-kilometre (124-mile) radius in the last five years, the China Earthquake Networks Centre said. Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said he was “deeply saddened” and was offering prayers for those killed in the earthquake. Over 1,500 local firefighters and rescue workers had been dispatched to the affected areas, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua reported. 22,000 items including cotton tents, cotton coats, quilts and folding beds have also been sent to the region. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, said all-out search and rescue efforts should be carried out to minimise casualties, properly resettle the affected people, and ensure a safe and warm winter. You can read more on the Tibet earthquake here. Our video team has put together a report on the deadly earthquake and its aftermath: Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has expressed his “sincerest condolences” to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, over the Tibet earthquake that killed at least 95 people. “Russia shares the grief of those who have lost relatives and close ones as a result of this natural disaster, and hopes for a speedy recovery,” Putin told Xi in a message posted by the Kremlin. China annexed Tibet in 1951 and has retained tight control over the region ever since. The epicentre of the earthquake was high up in the remote Tibetan plateau close to the Himalayan border with Nepal, about 50 miles north of Mount Everest. Tremors were felt in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, 400km (250 miles) away, where residents ran from their houses. Tremors were also felt in the northern Indian state of Bihar, which borders Nepal. Here is a graphic of the areas affected by the 7.1 magnitude earthquake: We mentioned in a previous post (see at 07.35) that the Chinese air force has launched rescue efforts and drones to the area affected by the earthquake. Reports are now coming through of Chinese vice-premier Zhang Guoqing being dispatched to the area to guide the work. The government, meanwhile, has announced the allocation of 100 million yuan ($13.6m; £10.8m) for disaster relief. The earthquake struck this morning in Dingri county in the Tibet region of China, with several aftershocks subsequently felt in the area, including in Nepal. The earthquake’s epicentre was recorded in Shigatse city, the second-largest city in Tibet. Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said he was “deeply saddened” and was offering prayers for those killed in a devastating earthquake in China’s remote Himalayan region. The exiled leader, who fled into India in March 1959 as Chinese troops crushed an attempted uprising in Tibet, said in a statement on Tuesday: I am deeply saddened to learn of the devastating earthquake … It has caused the tragic loss of many lives, numerous injuries, and extensive destruction to homes and property. I offer my prayers for those who have lost their lives and extend my wishes for a swift recovery to all who have been injured. The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the holiest figure in Tibetan Buddhism and has lived in exile in India since 1959, when Tibet was annexed by China. The 89-year-old stepped down as his people’s political head in 2011, passing the baton of secular power to a government chosen democratically by about 130,000 Tibetans across the world. Tenzin Lekshay, a spokesperson of that government, said they were also “deeply saddened by the loss of lives and the extensive destruction of property” caused by the earthquake. “Our heartfelt condolences go out to the grieving families,” he said. Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama is the 14th reincarnation of the leader of an institution dating back six centuries, chosen by monks according to ancient Buddhist traditions. As of 11:40am local time, over 1,500 local firefighters and rescue workers had been dispatched to the affected earthquake areas, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua reported. 22,000 items including cotton tents, cotton coats, quilts and folding beds have also been sent to the region, it said. The impact of the earthquake, that hit Tibet’s holy Shigatse city about 09:00 local time (01:00 GMT), was felt across the Shigatse region of Tibet, home to 800,000 people. State media said the initial earthquake – that had an epicentre in the Tingri region, about 240 miles from Tibet’s capital Lhasa – was followed by a number of aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 4.4. The earthquake’s epicentre was about 75 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Mount Everest, which straddles the China-Nepal border. The area is seismically active and is where the India and Eurasia plates clash and cause uplifts in the Himalayan mountains strong enough to change the heights of some of the world’s tallest peaks. About 50 aftershocks were recorded in the three hours after the earthquake, and the Mount Everest scenic area on the Chinese side was closed after the quake, according to the Associated Press. Residents in Tingri county, near the earthquake’s epicentre, have said the quake wreaked so much destruction partly because of the flimsy design of houses there. The quake led to the damage of more than 1,000 houses. Sangji Dangzhi, 34, whose supermarket in Tingri county suffered considerable damage, described the situation as “very serious” with ambulances taking people to hospital throughout the day. “Here the houses are made from dirt so when the earthquake came … lots of houses collapsed,” Dangzhi, who returned home from Shigatse after the earthquake struck, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Disaster relief aid, including cotton tents, quilts and items for high-altitude and frigid areas, had been dispatched by central authorities to areas affected by the earthquake. Chinese state media reported earlier that at least 53 people were killed and 62 others injured after the 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the mountainous Tibet region on Tuesday morning. The death toll, given by Chinese state media, has now been increased to 95. 130 people were reported to have been injured. “A total of 95 people have been confirmed dead and 130 others injured as of 3 pm (0700 GMT),” Xinhua news agency said. The earthquake shook buildings in neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and India but all the deaths were reported on the Tibetan side. Here are some more pictures being sent to us over the newswires from Tibet: There are three townships and 27 villages within 20 km (12 miles) of the epicentre of the earthquake, which had its epicentre high up in the remote Tibetan plateau close to the Himalayan border with Nepal, about 50 miles north of Mount Everest. These affected areas had a total population of about 6,900, Chinese state media reported. More than 1,000 houses have reportedly been damaged. As we have been reporting, the 7.1 magnitude earthquake’s epicentre is located in Tingri, a rural Chinese county known as the northern gateway to the Everest region. Temperatures in the county are around -8C (17.6F) and are estimated by forecasters to drop to -18 this evening. The Chinese air force has launched rescue efforts and drones to the affected area amid the below-freezing conditions. Tuesday’s epicentre was around 80 km (50 miles) north of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain and a popular destination for climbers and trekkers. Winter is not a popular season for climbers and hikers in Nepal, with a German climber the lone mountaineer with a permit to climb Mount Everest, Reuters reports. He had already left the base camp after failing to reach the summit, Lilathar Awasthi, a Department of Tourism official, said. Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said the tremors were felt in seven hill districts bordering Tibet. “So far we have not received any information of any loss of life and property,” NDRRMA spokesman Dizan Bhattarai told Reuters. “We have mobilised police, security forces and local authorities to collection information,” he said. Many villages in the Nepalese border area, which are sparsely populated, are remote and can only be reached by foot. The Associated Press has put together a short timeline of the worst earthquake to hit China in recent years, including the 2008 Sichuan quake that killed nearly 90,000 people. It notes that earthquakes in China happen most frequently on the Tibetan Plateau or its fringes. The seismically active area is where the India and Eurasia plates clash and cause uplifts that can be strong enough to change the heights of Himalayan peaks. Here’s the timeline: — May 2008: A magnitude 7.9 earthquake leaves nearly 90,000 people dead or missing and presumed dead in Sichuan province. — April 2010: A magnitude 7.1 earthquake kills 2,698 people in Qinghai province. — April 2013: A magnitude 7.0 earthquake kills 196 people in Sichuan. — July 2013: A magnitude 6.6 earthquake kills 95 people in Gansu province. — August 2014: A magnitude 6.1 earthquake kills 617 people in Yunnan province. — September 2022: A magnitude 6.8 earthquake kills 93 people in Sichuan. — December 2023: A magnitude 6.2 earthquake kills at least 126 people in Gansu and Qinghai provinces. Some more pictures have come in from Lhatse county in Shigatse, the Tibetan city worst hit by the earthquake: Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered “all-out” rescue efforts to save lives and minimise casualties, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported. The president had also “urged efforts to prevent secondary disasters, properly resettle affected residents, and handle the aftermath work effectively”, it reported. As well as Kathmandu, areas around Lobuche in Nepal in the high mountains near Everest were also rattled by the tremor and aftershocks, AFP reported. “It shook quite strongly here, everyone is awake,” said government official Jagat Prasad Bhusal in Nepal’s Namche region, which lies nearer to Everest. But no damage or deaths had been reported so far and security forces had been deployed, Nepali home minister spokesman Rishi Ram Tiwari said. Nepal lies on a major geological faultline where the Indian tectonic plate pushes up into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayas, and earthquakes are a regular occurrence. In 2015, nearly 9,000 people died and more than 22,000 were injured when a 7.8-magnitude quake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes. Pictures are starting to trickle in from the areas affected by the earthquake, although they’re still few and far between. Here are a couple from Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, where tremors sent people out onto the streets: Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the earthquake in Tibet. The quake struck near one of Tibet’s holiest cities, the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC) has said, killing at least 53 people and collapsing “many buildings” with tremors also felt in neighbouring Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and parts of India. The quake struck Dingri county with a magnitude of 6.8 near the border with Nepal on Tuesday morning, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC). The US Geological Survey reported the tremor as magnitude 7.1. “Fifty-three people have been confirmed dead, and 62 others injured as of Tuesday noon, after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Dingri County in the city of Xigaze in Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region at 9:05 am Tuesday,” the official Xinhua news agency said. Videos published by China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed destroyed houses with walls torn apart and rubble strewn across the ruins in the aftermath of the earthquake. Temperatures in Dingri are around minus 8 degrees Celsius and will drop to minus 18 this evening, according to the China Meteorological Administration, AFP reported. The high-altitude county in the Tibet region is home to about 62,000 people and situated on the Chinese side of Mount Everest. While earthquakes are common in the region, Tuesday’s quake was the most powerful recorded within a 200-kilometre radius in the last five years, the CENC added. Stay with us as we cover the developments.