At least 53 people have been confirmed dead and 62 are injured after a major earthquake struck China\u2019s mountainous Tibet region on Tuesday morning, Chinese state media reported.<\/p>\n
The earthquake that hit Tibet\u2019s holy Shigatse city around 09:00 local time (01:00 GMT) had a magnitude of 7.1 and a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), according to data from the US Geological Survey, which also showed a series of aftershocks in the area.<\/p>\n
Tremors were also felt in neighbouring Nepal and parts of India.<\/p>\n
Earthquakes are common in the region, which lies on a major geological fault line.<\/p>\n
Shigatse is considered one of the holiest cities of Tibet. It is the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, a key figure of Tibetan Buddhism whose spiritual authority is second only to the Dalai Lama.<\/p>\n
Tingri county, near the earthquake\u2019s epicentre, is a popular base for climbers preparing to ascend Mount Everest.<\/p>\n
Mount Everest sightseeing tours in Tingri, originally scheduled for Tuesday morning, have been cancelled, a tourism staff told local media, adding that the sightseeing area has been fully closed.<\/p>\n
There were three visitors in the sightseeing area who have all been moved to an outdoor area for safety, they said.<\/p>\n
Chinese state media reported the earthquake as having a slightly lesser magnitude of 6.8, causing \u201cobvious\u201d tremors andleading to the damage of over 1,000 houses. There have been several strong aftershocks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a major earthquake, there is always a gradual attenuation process,\u201d Jiang Haikun, a researcher at the China Earthquake Networks Center, told CCTV.<\/p>\n
While another earthquake of around magnitude 5 may still occur, Jiang said, \u201cthe likelihood of a larger earthquake is low\u201d.<\/p>\n
Since China annexed Tibet in the 1950s, it has kept a tight control over the autonomous region, including its media and internet access.<\/p>\n
Social media posts from the earthquake-affected area on Tuesday showed collapsed buildings.<\/p>\n
The Chinese air force has launched rescue efforts and drones to the affected area, which sits at the foot of Mount Everest and where temperatures are well below freezing.<\/p>\n
Both power and water in the region have been cut off.<\/p>\n
Chinese president Xi Jinping has also called for all-out search and rescue efforts to minimise casualties and resettle affected residents.<\/p>\n
While tremors were felt in Nepal, no damage or casualties were reported, a local official in Nepal\u2019s Namche region, near Everest, told AFP.<\/p>\n
The region, which lies neara major fault line of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, is home to frequent seismic activity. In 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake near Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, killed nearly 9,000 people and injured over 20,000.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At least 53 people have been confirmed dead and 62 are injured after a major earthquake struck China\u2019s mountainous Tibet region on Tuesday morning, Chinese state media reported. The earthquake that hit Tibet\u2019s holy Shigatse city around 09:00 local time (01:00 GMT) had a magnitude of 7.1 and a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}