LHASA/BEIJING: At least seven people have died and 24 others were injured in a southern county of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region after a strong earthquake centered in the state of Sikkim in northern India on Sunday evening, according to the county committee secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), reports Xinhua News.
Three of the injured were in critical condition and have been rushed to the People’s Hospital in Xigaze Prefecture for treatment.
The earthquake has caused hundreds of landslides that have disrupted traffic, power and water supplies, as well as telecommunications in Yadong County, Tibet, which is 40 km away from Sikkim, the epicentre of the 6.9-magnitude quake.
But as of noon, communication services had been restored in Yadong County, according to Ji Xiaopeng, secretary of Yadong County Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Local authorities in Xigaze Prefecture, who administers Yadong, have mobilized workers to use heavy machinery to clear debris from major roads in order to ensure the expedient transport of relief supplies.
The road traffic to the Himalayan County resumed Monday morning.
Xinhua reporters arriving at the county early Monday morning saw dozens of earthquake victims wrapped in cotton quilts camped on streets enduring rain and sleet.
Dianzin Namgyai, secretary of the Xigaze Prefecture committee of the Communist Party of China, on Monday visited victims in Galingang Village, one of the worst hit. He said all 156 houses in the village were damaged — leaving villagers homeless.
“Relief supplies are on the way to Yadong,” he said, adding that 500 tents have been sent.
Wang Changlin, rector of the Yadong County Middle School, said the school had to stop classes on Monday, as all 355 students were temporarily living in six tents.
According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the earthquake affected 13 counties in Tibet.
On Monday morning, the ministry sent a team to Tibet to help carry out rescue and relief work.
An initial survey showed that the earthquake had rendered more than 70 percent of residential houses in Yadong unsafe, according to the local earthquake resistance and disaster relief headquarters.
Tibet’s regional government allocated a relief fund of 10 million yuan to the affected areas on Monday.
An emergency rescue and disaster relief headquarters consisting of military troops, armed police and firefighters was set up Monday morning — with Padma Choling, Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, as the commander.
A medical team organized by the General Hospital of the Tibet Military Command will arrive at Yadong in the afternoon to treat other injured.
Four temporary shelters have been set up in the county of Yadong, resettling about 2,000 local residents, according to Ji Xiaopeng.
Emergency supplies are transported to the affected areas successively as the road traffic to Yadong have resumed at noon. A total of 1,100 tents and 4,500 cotton quilts and clothing have been sent to the affected places up till now.
The earthquake occurred at 6.11 pm local time on the India-Nepal border. The epicentre is located 68 km northwest of Sikkim’s capital of Gangtok, at a depth of 19.7 km.