Dozens of people are confirmed to have died, and hundreds and injured, after a devastating earthquake hammered China’s Tibet region
According to the Daily Mail, the earthquake in question was categorized as a 7.1-magnitude quake by the US Geological Survey. Regardless of categorizing, the quake demolished “many structures.” Moreover, as of just this morning, 95 individuals have been confirmed to have died in the tragedy.
Videos have been shared of rescuers working quickly to pull survivors out of the rubble. Notably, temperatures sat at eight degrees below freezing. The situation for survivors who are needing to be rescued is obviously dire, and the weather conditions are in no way helping.
The earthquake struck around 9:05 AM locally, in Tibet’s Dingri County. The area is particularly mountainous and sits on China’s side of the famed Mount Everest. The county itself is home to 62,000 residents. As rescue efforts continue, there is fear that the death toll associated with the earthquake will rise sharply in the coming hours.
Making the situation ever more daunting are the villages and standalone homes situated along the Himalayas. Those structures are not only difficult to reach, but also situated closer to the earthquake’s epicenter. There is fear that those villages and homes could be entirely destroyed.
7.1-Magnitude Earthquake Rocks China’s Tibet Region
Earthquakes are not necessarily uncommon in the area, but today’s event was the most massive of the kind in years. Specifically, today’s earthquake was the most powerful recorded within a 200-kilometer radius in the last five years.
While this earthquake may have crushed Tibet, the neighboring country of Nepal is no stranger to similar events. Nepal itself sits along a geological flatline, where the Indian tectonic plate pushes into the Eurasian tectonic plate. The result is the Himalayan Mountains, and often times, earthquakes.
In 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake destroyed over half a million homes in Nepal. That quake killed thousands and left many more injured as well. Making matters worse, the quake triggered an avalanche on Pumori, which is a nearby mountain. The avalanche sent snow into a Mount Everest Base Camp, and 22 individuals died there as a result of the event. Along with the 22 deaths, another 61 individuals were left injured.
