 More than 30 killed in Tibet earthquake
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-07 07:40 LHASA AND URUMQI: At least 30 people were killed in a 6.6-magnitude earthquake which jolted a county under Lhasa, capital of Tibet autonomous region, yesterday, the local government said. The victims were found in Gedar township of Damxung county, the epicenter. More people were still buried in debris and many houses collapsed, the Tibet regional government said . Traffic and telecommunication were cut off in Gedar. Soldiers and medical staff were rushing to the site. Deaths and injuries were also reported in a neighboring county, but the exact number was yet to be verified. The earthquake took place at 4:30 pm yesterday, the State Seismological Bureau said. The Lhasa quake came less than a day after a 6.8-magnitude quake rocked western Xinjiang. The epicenter was located 82 km from Lhasa at 29.8 degrees north latitude and 90.3 degrees east longitude. The Tibet seismological department sent a team to the quake-hit area. Tremors were felt in the capital, local sources said. Xinhua reporters in Lhasa saw no damage to the buildings, including the famed Potala Palace. The Qinghai-Tibet railway and Lhasa airport maintained normal services. "I was shaken for a few seconds, and lamps in the office swayed. Then everything returned to normal," Xinhua reporter Xue Wenxian said. Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region authorities yesterday confirmed the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that shook its far-flung western mountainous area on Sunday night did not cause fatalities but did damage some rural houses. The earthquake struck Wuqia, a county on Xinjiang's western border, at 11:52 pm. The epicenter was at 39.6 degrees north latitude and 73.9 degrees east longitude - a mountainous location about 100 km from the county seat of Wuqia, Kizilsu Kirgiz autonomous prefecture. The tectonic rupture was 33 km underground.
The Xinjiang earthquake-monitoring network yesterday said that as of 11 am it had tallied 68 aftershocks. Government authorities in Kizilsu Kirgiz launched a response shortly. Two special teams, consisting of quake specialists, health workers and security officers, arrived at the epicenter by 3:30 am to inspect and assess the damage, Liu Junhai, a deputy chief of Kizilsu Kirgiz government, which exercise jurisdiction over Wuqia, said. "Officials were assigned to go door to door to make inspections and persuade those who were not living in quake-resistant shelters to move out," Liu said. In total, 225 rural houses sustained damage in the quake, including four residences that toppled. Telecom facilities that had been partially damaged were repaired. More than 80 houses had cracks and broken windows in Simuhana, the village nearest the epicenter and home to 200 people among 50 households. Mobile telecom services, however, were still available. There was also a power outage at Ilkeshtan, a border checkpoint about 1 km away from the township seat of Jigen, where the epicenter was located. It was not immediately known when the power supply would resume. "Farmers and herders in the quake zone were pacified, and traffic to the area was also unaffected," Liu said, adding that further investigation was needed for detailed property damage assessments. Wuqia is in the Pamirs in southwestern Xinjiang at the junction of the Tianshan and Kunlun mountains. Xinhua (China Daily 10/07/2008 page4) |
