A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck near Shigatse in western China, killing at least 53 people and injuring 62 others. The earthquake also affected the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, 250 miles away, but no damage was reported there. Chinese authorities dispatched 1,500 fire and rescue personnel to the area to assess the full extent of the disaster. The tremor occurred near Dingri County, a mountainous region in Tibet that is home to the second most important spiritual figure in Tibetan Buddhism, the Panchen Lama.
This earthquake is a reminder of the region’s vulnerability to seismic activity, as the Himalayan region sits on a fault line between the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. In the past century, there have been multiple earthquakes with a magnitude of 6 or above in the vicinity of the epicenter. The most recent deadly earthquakes in the region were in 2008 in Sichuan, China, where almost 70,000 people perished, and in 2015 in Nepal, where nearly 9,000 people lost their lives, highlighting the devastating impact that seismic events can have in the area. The full impact of this recent earthquake near Shigatse is still being assessed as rescue efforts continue.
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