A earthquake struck near China’s border with Nepal in the Tibet region, destroying more than 2,000 homes and killing at least 120 people. The earthquake occurred near the world’s tallest mountain, Mount Everest, in China’s vast, sparsely-populated Tibet region.
The earthquake, which hit Tibet’s holy Shigatse city around 9 AM,
had a magnitude of 7.1 and a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), according to data from the US Geological Survey, which also showed a series of aftershocks in the area. Tremors were also felt in Nepal and parts of India, which neighbor Tibet….
Videos published by China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed destroyed houses and collapsed buildings, with rescue workers wading through debris and handing out thick blankets to locals….Temperatures in Tingri county, near the earthquake’s epicentre in the northern foothills of the Himalayas, are around -8C (17.6F), and will drop to -18C (-0.4F) by evening…Both power and water in the region have been disrupted. There were more than 40 aftershocks in the first few hours following the quake.
Shigatse is considered one of the holiest cities of Tibet, which was annexed by China in the 1950s and has been under tight control ever since, including media and internet access.
The U.S. intermittently pays attention to Tibet, but not in any consistent way. Strangely, a U.S. COVID relief bill contained a policy statement on the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of Tibet, which China invaded and conquered in the 1950s. As Newsweek reported,
Section 342 of the bill outlines a “statement of policy regarding the succession or reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.” Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, currently resides in exile in India after escaping from Tibet in 1959 amid a revolt against Chinese governance. Tibet was occupied by China in 1951 and incorporated as part of the East Asian nation.
In 2020, it was reported that China had forced hundreds of thousands of Tibetans into forced labor camps. In the 1950s, tens of thousands of Tibetan civilians were killed during and after an uprising.
