A magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck Drachen county in the Xizang autonomous region at 10:33 pm on Thursday has killed 16 people and injured 76, according to the regional government. A total of 339 houses collapsed. The region raised its emergency disaster relief response to Level II from Friday to strengthen rescue work and help for affected residents.
Where it hit
The U.S. Geological Survey put the epicenter 191 kilometers east-northeast of Nagqu, in a sparsely populated, high-altitude part of northern Tibet, at a depth of 18 kilometers. Xinhua cited the China Earthquake Networks Center, which gave a shallower 10 kilometers. State broadcaster CCTV called it the biggest earthquake in the region in the last five years.
Early official counts were lower. The Nagqu media office initially reported 32 injured, 11 of them seriously. The regional government’s later figure is 76.
Searches and relief
Officials said three rounds of searches were finished by Friday and no one was reported missing. Work continued on Saturday in the hardest-hit villages of Maru township, where teams checked damaged buildings, set up temporary shelters and delivered essential supplies. Police and fire department crews put up tents for people who lost their homes.
Volunteers joined in. Sonam Ngodrub, who runs a Tibetan restaurant in Nagqu, went to one affected village. “I run a Tibetan restaurant, and there isn’t much else I can do apart from helping others,” he said. He supplies 100 to 150 kilograms of Tibetan noodles a day free of charge, plus roasted barley flour and sweet tea.
A thin population on a high plateau
The Tibet Autonomous Region covers more than 1.2 million square kilometers of rugged terrain and has 3.6 million people, about three per square kilometer. Elevations in the north average over 4,572 meters. Distance matters for the response: Nagqu lies more than 185 kilometers north of the regional capital, Lhasa.
Sources
- Rescue and relief efforts underway after quake kills 16, injures 76 in Xizang
- Tibet Autonomous Region
- A 7.0 earthquake hits China’s Tibet, killing 16 and injuring 32
Photo: 罗布泊 (CC BY 3.0)
