Nearly 100 dead after multiple earthquakes in Tibet; tremors felt in India

At least 95 people were killed and more than 130 injured as six earthquakes, including a powerful one measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, rocked Tibet in one hour on Tuesday.

The earthquakes shook buildings in many areas in India, Nepal and Bhutan. News agency Reuters, citing local media, reported that at least 95 people were killed in the Shigatse region of Tibet in the earthquake. China’s state media said that 130 others were injured.

Several buildings also collapsed near the epicentre, according to Chinese media. “Dingri county and its surrounding areas experienced very strong tremors, and many buildings near the epicentre have collapsed,” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. Shigatse is home to 800,000 people and the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism.

Strong tremors were felt in Delhi-NCR and various parts of North India, including Bihar’s capital Patna and multiple locations in the northern part of the state. The earthquake was also felt in West Bengal and the northeastern states, including Assam. In Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, residents reportedly ran out of their houses after strong tremors. The country’s disaster management authority said the tremors were felt in seven hill districts bordering Tibet.

“I was sleeping. The bed was shaking, and I thought my child was moving the bed. I didn’t pay that much attention, but the shaking of the window confirmed to me that it was an earthquake. I then hurriedly called my child and evacuated the house and went to the open ground,” Meera Adhikari, a resident of Kathmandu, told news agency ANI.

According to the National Centre for Seismology, the first 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Xizang, near the Nepal-Tibet border, at 6:35 am. This intensity is considered strong and is capable of causing severe damage. Chinese officials recorded the magnitude at 6.8 in Shigatse city, Tibet’s second-largest city.

Two aftershocks of 4.7 and 4.9 intensity were reported from the same Xizang area.

The epicentre was located 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. According to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, there have been 29 earthquakes with magnitudes of 3 or higher within 200 km of Shigatse city in the past five years, all of which were smaller than the one that struck on Tuesday morning.