Daily Times

Winter is not a popular season for climbers and hikers in Nepal, with a German climber the lone mountaineer with a permit to climb Mount Everest. He had already left the base camp after failing to reach the summit, Lilathar Awasthi, a Department of Tourism official, said.

Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said the tremors were felt in seven hill districts bordering Tibet.

“So far we have not received any information of any loss of life and property,” NDRRMA spokesman Dizan Bhattarai told Reuters. “We have mobilised police, security forces and local authorities to collect information,” he said.

Many villages in the Nepalese border area, which are sparsely populated, are remote and can only be reached by foot.

The impact of the quake was felt across the Shigatse region of Tibet, home to 800,000 people. The region is administered by Shigatse city, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said all-out search and rescue efforts should be carried out to minimise casualties, properly resettle the affected people, and ensure a safe and warm winter.

More than 1,500 local firefighters and rescue workers have been dispatched to the affected areas, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. Some 22,000 items including cotton tents, cotton coats, quilts and folding beds have also been sent to the quake-hit region, it said.

Pakistan has expressed heartfelt condolences over the tragic loss of lives in the earthquake.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said Pakistan extends its support to the Chinese people and government their relief efforts.

“Our thoughts remain with the injured and those still missing,” it added.

Expressing grief over the loss of lives and financial losses due to the earthquake, President Asif Ali Zardari said his sympathies were with the Chinese government, people and earthquake victims.

“In this moment of sorrow, I stand in solidarity with my Chinese brothers and sisters,” said the president.

Villages in Tingri, where the average elevation is around 4,000-5,000 metres (13,000-16,000 feet), reported strong shaking during the quake, which was followed by dozens of aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 4.4. Crumbled shop fronts could be seen in a video on social media showing the aftermath in the town of Lhatse, with debris spilling out onto the road.

Reuters was able to confirm the location based on nearby buildings, windows, road layout, and signage that match satellite and street view imagery.

There are three townships and 27 villages within 20 km (12 miles) of the epicentre, with a total population of around 6,900, and more than 1,000 houses have been damaged, Xinhua reported.

Local government officials were liaising with nearby towns to gauge the impact of the quake and check for casualties, and China closed the Everest region to tourists after the quake, it added.

The Tingri tremor was caused by a rupture in what is known as the Lhasa block in an area under north-south compression and west-east stress, CCTV reported, citing Chinese experts.

Since 1950, there have been 21 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above in the Lhasa block, the largest of which was the 6.9-magnitude quake in Mainling in 2017, according to CCTV.

Mainling is located in the lower reaches of Tibet’s Yarlung Zangbo river where China is planning to build the world’s largest hydropower dam.

A magnitude 7.8 tremor struck near Nepal’s capital Kathmandu in 2015, killing about 9,000 people and injuring thousands in the country’s worst ever earthquake. Among the dead were at least 18 people killed at the Mount Everest base camp when it was hit by an avalanche.

On Tuesday, tremors were felt in Kathmandu, some 400 km (250 miles) from the epicentre, and residents in the city ran out of their houses.