Tibet earthquake: rescuers search for survivors after powerful quake kills 126 | China

Rescuers in China’s Tibet region were continuing to search for survivors in freezing conditions on Wednesday after a devastating 6.8-magnitude quake struck the remote area and killed at least 126 people.

The powerful quake struck the foothills of the Himalayas on Tuesday,about 80km (50 miles) north of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. Tremors also shook buildings in neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and India.

At least 126 people have been confirmed dead and 188 injured, while initial surveys showed more than 3,600 homes had been destroyed in the Shigatse region of Tibet, according to Chinese state media.

Photos and video online show numerous houses and buildings reduced to rubble.

“Here the houses are made from dirt so when the earthquake came … lots of houses collapsed,” said 34-year-old Sangji Dangzhi, whose supermarket in Tingri sustained considerable damage.

Authorities said more than 400 people had been rescued so far, but an unknown number were still missing. Rescue efforts have been complicated by the more than 500 aftershocks recorded since Tuesday, and extreme cold. Temperatures in the high altitude plateau dropped to as low as -18C (0 degrees fahrenheit) overnight, adding to the misery of those left homeless, and prompting authorities to urgently scramble for blankets and temporary shelters.

The epicentre was in Tingri county, home to about 62,000 of Shigatse’s 800,000 residents. It is much less developed than urban centre’s like Tibet’s capital Lhasa.

No deaths have been reported in Nepal or elsewhere.

China’s government raised its national emergency response level to the highest of four tiers on Tuesday. Military personnel, 3,400 rescuers and hundreds of medical workers had been dispatched to help the injured, state media reported. Rescue workers waded through rubble strewn across the ruins in the aftermath, footage showed, while some gave locals thick blankets to keep warm.

Tents, food rations, electrical generators and other supplies had reached the site by late on Tuesday, and all sections of road damaged by the temblor had been reopened, state media said.

Tourist Meng Lingkang said in the town of Lhatse, 65km from the epicentre, “the buildings had cracked open”.

“Some of the older houses collapsed, and a large part of the buildings made from bricks had cracked open, with big fissures,” the 23-year-old told AFP.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for “all-out search and rescue efforts, minimising casualties to the greatest extent possible, properly resettling affected residents, and ensuring their safety and warmth through the winter”, the state broadcaster said.

Beijing, which administers part of Tibet as an autonomous region within China, rejects criticism from rights groups and exiles who accuse it of trampling on the religious and cultural rights of the Tibetan people.

With Reuters and Agence France-Presse