A 6.8-magnitude earthquake at Dingri County, Shigatse, Xizang Autonomous Region at 9:05 AM on Tuesday led to at least nine deaths confirmed so far. It is being reported by Xinhua News Agency that several buildings also collapsed as a result of the tremor in that region. However more details are still needed on the death toll.
In rescue operations, local authorities have called upon people from various areas such as transportation, water resources, housing, urban-rural development and even officials from the local government to assist in this area. Residents are also being evacuated safely to mitigate possible aftershocks as explained by Dingri County governor.
By 9:20AM six vehicles accompanied by seventy-five members of Shigatse Fire Brigade had been sent out and were waiting for rescue activities while fifteen personnel together with three vehicles had already gone ahead towards the epicenter of the earthquake.
The forward command comprised ten members plus three vehicles forward command from Xizang Forest Fire Brigade making a total of two hundred and fifteen be divided into advanced teams made up of eighty-five special forces personnel and a forward command consisting of fifteen bodies from Xizang Forest Fire Brigade who moved out with three cars.
Over 500 staffs from People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Armed Police Forces, militia and reserve forces have been assembled and ready to move on, as per China Military.
Similarly the quake took place at latitude of 28.5 degrees north and longitude of 87.45 degrees East with a depth of 10 kilometers according to China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).
Within a five kilometer radius of the epicenter there are seven villages while two towns are within a twenty kilometer radius. The average elevation around the 5km zone is about 4259 meters above sea level, CCTV News reported.
There was also another 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck some ninety kilometres Northeast of Lobuche in Nepal at around Tuesday01:05:16 GMT according to United States Geological Survey (USGS). This temblor had its hypocenter located at latitude 28.58 degrees north and longitude 87.39 degrees east and was ten km deep according to Xinhua news agency.
