BEIJING (AP) — Rescue workers in the freezing, high-altitude Tibet region in western China searched Wednesday for more survivors and victims of a strong earthquake that struck a day earlier near a holy city for Tibetan Buddhists, killing at least 126 people and leveling thousands of houses.
Tents, quilts and other relief items were being delivered to people whose homes were uninhabitable or unsafe. Temperatures fell well below freezing overnight in an area with an average altitude of about 4,200 meters (13,800 feet).
The confirmed death toll stood at 126 with another 188 injured as of Tuesday evening. The earthquake struck the city of Xigaze, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism. It was not immediately known whether he was in his Tashi Lhunpo Monastery at the time of the quake or how much damage the city sustained. The quake’s distance from Xigaze, which sprawls across a high altitude plain, was about 25 kilometers (15 miles).
Video on CCTV showed orange-suited rescue workers climbing piles of debris blocking homes in a heavily damaged village, while chunks that had been knocked off buildings littered streets and crushed cars in other areas.
More than 3,600 houses collapsed, according to a preliminary survey, and 30,000 residents have been relocated, Xinhua said, citing the city government in Xi, also known by its Tibetan spelling, Shigatse.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake measured magnitude 7.1 and was relatively shallow at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6 miles). China recorded the magnitude as 6.8.
The epicenter was about 75 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Mount Everest, which straddles the China-Nepal border. The area is seismically active and is 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.
More than 500 aftershocks were recorded after the earthquake, which the U.S. Geological Survey said measured magnitude 7.1. China’s earthquake center recorded a magnitude of 6.8.
The quake was also about 75 kilometers (50 miles) from Mount Everest and the border with Nepal, where the shaking sent people running out of their homes in the capital.
The dead included at least 22 of the 222 residents of Gurum, the official Xinhua News Agency cited the village’s Communist Party chief, Tsering Phuntsog, as saying. The victims included his 74-year-old mother, and several other of his relatives remained buried in the debris.
“Even young people couldn’t run out of the houses when the earthquake hit, let alone old people and children,” Tsering Phuntsog said.
The Ministry of Emergency Management has 1,850 rescuers on the ground along with firefighters and others, state broadcaster CCTV said.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping ordered “all-out rescue efforts to save lives and minimize casualties,” Xinhua reported. Communications in the area have also been restored, allowing smoother delivery of emergency goods, it said. Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, was dispatched to the area to guide the work.
CCTV said there are a handful of communities within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of the epicenter, which was 380 kilometers (240 miles) from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and about 23 kilometers (14 miles) from the region’s second-largest city of Shigatse, known as Xigaze in Chinese.
The average altitude in the area around the epicenter is about 4,200 meters (13,800 feet), the China Earthquake Networks Center said in a social media post.
The Chinese government and followers of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s highest figure, have feuded over who should hold the position of Panchen Lama since a boy appointed by the Dalai Lama disappeared in the mid-1990s and a Chinese-backed candidate was approved for the position. The Dalai Lama, viewed by the Chinese government as a dangerous separatist, denounced the move and has refused to recognize the current Panchen Lama.
China’s government says Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, but many Tibetans say they were functionally independent for most of that time. China’s People’s Liberation Army invaded the territory in 1950 and the Dalai Lama fled to India nine years later during an uprising against Chinese rule, seen as eroding Tibet’s unique Buddhist culture.
Tibet is generally closed to foreign journalists over reports about the ill treatment of the native population by Chinese authorities.
A candlelight vigil was planned in Dharamsala, India, home of the Dalai Lama and a large Tibetan population, on Wednesday night, and an announcement on the Dalai Lama’s website said he would lead a prayer ceremony in memory of the victims on Thursday.
Asked about the prayer ceremony, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, “We are very clear about the separatist nature and political schemes of the Dalai Lama and remain highly vigilant.”
Guo expressed confidence that the people in the earthquake zone would be able to rebuild under “the strong leadership” of the Communist Party.
In Nepal, authorities asked officials in the mountainous area near the epicenter to search for any casualties or damage.
The National Emergency Operation Center in Kathmandu said people in northeastern Nepal strongly felt the earthquake but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage to houses.
A police officer in Solukhumbu district, where Mount Everest is located, said by telephone that there were no reports of damage. The area, often crowded with climbers and hikers, was empty in the depth of winter. Many residents move to the south to avoid the harsh winter.
About 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the epicenter in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, the earthquake woke up residents and sent them running out of their homes into the streets.
There have been 10 earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 in the area where Tuesday’s quake hit over the past century, the USGS said.
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