Tibet Earthquake 2025: A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Tibet at 9:05 a.m. on Tuesday (January 7), killing at least 95 people and injuring 130 as of 3 p.m. The main shock and dozens of aftershocks caused “many buildings” to collapse, trapping many people. Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, and parts of India and Bhutan were also affected, but no casualties have been reported.
Video footage from China Central Television (CCTV) showed houses destroyed and broken walls everywhere after the earthquake. Xinhua News Agency reported that China’s Ministry of Emergency Management said that about 1,500 firefighters and rescue workers had been sent to the disaster area to search for trapped people, and relief supplies including tents, coats, quilts, etc. had also been delivered to the disaster area.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said that the earthquake’s magnitude was 7.1, with a focal depth of 10 kilometers, making it a shallow earthquake, while the magnitude of the earthquake recorded in China was 6.8.
The epicenter of the earthquake was about 75 kilometers northeast of Mount Everest, an area of frequent geological activity where the Indian and Eurasian plates collide, causing the uplift of the Himalayas with such force that it could change the heights of some of the world’s highest mountains.
The China Earthquake Networks Center said in a post on social media that the average altitude near the epicenter was about 4,200 meters.
Xinhua News Agency reported that within 20 kilometers of the epicenter, there are three townships and 27 villages with a total population of about 6,900 people. Local government officials have contacted nearby towns to assess the disaster. In addition, the epicenter is about 380 kilometers away from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and about 23 kilometers away from Shigatse, the second-largest city in the region, which has a population of 800,000.
CCTV and Xinhua News Agency reported earlier that the quake was felt strongly in Dingri County of Shigatse City, with a population of 62,000, and surrounding areas. Dozens of earthquakes occurred at the epicenter, with the largest magnitude being 4.4, causing many nearby buildings to collapse. A video on social media showed that the streets in Lhaze were in ruins, shops were damaged, and the streets were full of debris.
According to the China Meteorological Administration, the temperature in Dingri County is currently about minus 8 degrees Celsius and will drop to minus 18 degrees Celsius tonight. To make the situation even more serious, the survivors can only keep warm around the campfire outdoors.
The earthquake was also felt in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, about 230 kilometers from the epicenter. A man was injured after jumping off a roof due to the earthquake. Jagat Prasad Bhusal, a local official in Namche, Nepal, near Mount Everest, said, “The earthquake was so strong that everyone woke up.” Information is still unavailable in remote mountainous areas of Nepal near the epicenter. Nepalese officials have deployed security forces to assist. Although the neighboring northern Indian states of Bihar and Bhutan also felt the earthquake, no casualties have been reported so far.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the area where the earthquake occurred has experienced 10 earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 in the past century. In 2015, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred near Kathmandu, killing about 9,000 people and injuring thousands, including 18 climbers who were buried by avalanches in camps around Mount Everest, making it the worst earthquake in Nepal’s history.
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