More than 400 people trapped by a strong earthquake in the foothills of the Himalayas have been rescued, Chinese officials said, while more than 30,000 residents have been relocated, as the search for survivors entered a second day yesterday.
The epicenter of Tuesday’s magnitude 6.8 quake, one of the region’s most powerful tremors over the past few years, was in Tingri County in China’s Tibet region, about 80km north of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. It also shook buildings in neighboring Nepal, Bhutan and India.
Twenty-four hours after the temblor struck, survivors trapped under rubble would have endured a night in sub-zero temperatures, and be at risk of succumbing to hypothermia and dehydration.
Photo: Xinhua via AP
An initial survey showed 3,609 homes had been destroyed in the Shigatse region of Tibet, which is home to 800,000 people, Chinese state media reported late on Tuesday, citing local officials.
More than 500 people and 106 ambulances had been dispatched to help the injured.
At least 126 people were known to have been killed and 188 injured on the Tibetan side, China’s state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported.
No deaths have been reported in Nepal or elsewhere.
Temperatures in the high-altitude region dropped to as low as minus-18°C overnight, adding to the misery of those left homeless.
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, CCTV added.
Southwestern parts of China, Nepal and northern India are often hit by earthquakes caused by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
More than 500 aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 4.4 had followed the quake as of 8am local time yesterday, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.
Over the past five years, there have been 29 earthquakes with magnitudes of 3 or above within 200km of the epicenter of Tuesday’s temblor, according to Sichuan Province’s earthquake bureau.
In 2008, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake hit Sichuan’s Chengdu, claiming the lives of at least 70,000 people, the deadliest quake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan quake that killed at least 242,000 people.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS