China has been hit by a powerful 5.5-magnitude earthquake a day after devastating tremors left at least 126 dead in Tibet.
The magnitude earthquake jolted China’s northwestern province of Qinghai at 3.44 pm (0844 GMT) on Wednesday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).
The epicentre was at Madoi county in Golog prefecture at a depth of 8.7 miles, CENC data showed. It was located near the source of the Yellow River, the main natural waterway serving northern China.
It was about 120 miles west of the county seat of Madoi, a town populated mainly by Tibetans, including former nomadic herders and their families who have resettled in government-built homes over the years.
Earthquakes are common along the edges of the seismically active Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, including Madoi.
The vast Qinghai-Tibetan plateau has been shaken by seismic activity since Tuesday, including a deadly 6.8-magnitude quake in the foothills of the Himalayas in Tibet and a smaller 3.1-magnitude quake in Sichuan.
The epicentre of Qinghai quake on Wednesday is about 1,000 km northeast of the quake in Tibet yesterday, which levelled thousands of houses and left at least 126 dead and 188 people injured.
It is not known how many people remain unaccounted for, with rescuers saying today they had saved over 400 people trapped beneath rubble after the quake struck.
Rescuers and earthquake-affected residents set up a makeshift tent at a village, following the earthquake in Tingri county, Shigatse, Tibet, on January 7
Destroyed houses in Shigatse, southwestern China’s Tibet region, after an earthquake hit the area on January 7
Rescue teams tend to casualties in the aftermath of an earthquake in a location given as Shigatse City
The US Geological Survey said the 7.1 magnitude quake struck Tibet’s Dingri County, near the mountainous border with Nepal, at 9.05am local time on Tuesday
The devastating quake also saw tremors felt in neighbouring Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and parts of India.
Videos published by China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed houses destroyed with walls torn apart as authorities launched a desperate rescue mission to pull survivors from the debris with temperatures sitting at least eight degrees below freezing.
Several of the 1,500 deployed rescue workers were seen wading through the ruins in the aftermath of the earthquake, while others doled out thick blankets and food to keep bewildered locals warm.
Surveillance images published by CCTV showed people running through a store’s aisles as shelves shook violently, sending objects like toys tumbling to the ground.
The US Geological Survey said the 7.1 magnitude quake struck Tibet’s Dingri County, near the mountainous border with Nepal, at 9.05am local time (0105 GMT) on Tuesday. Other monitoring organisations put the magnitude at 6.8.
The high-altitude county in the Tibet region is home to around 62,000 people and situated on the Chinese side of Mount Everest.
Data from the USGC showed that Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, itself experienced tremors of 4.5-magnitude, raising fears that one adventurer with a permit to climb could have faced disaster.
There are also villages and homes in hard-to-reach areas of the Himalayas closer to the epicentre which are feared destroyed, while Nepal’s city of Kathmandu also experienced significant tremors.
