Rescuers call off search for survivors in earthquake-hit Tibet and move thousands to shelters
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About 1,000 of the earthquake-proof and heated houses are being sent to Tingri and can be erected in about 10 minutes, reports say. More than 45,000 people in earthquake-hit Tibet were moved to shelters as authorities called off search operations to find survivors buried under rubble in the high-altitude environment following a powerful earthquake.
![[Rescue teams work amidst rubble in the aftermath of an earthquake in a location given as Shigatse City, Tibet Autonomous Region]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/09/08/2025-01-08T015733Z_714595812_RC2D5CASJW4K_RTRMADP_3_CHINA-QUAKE-TIBET.jpg)
At least 126 people were killed and more than 188 others sustained injuries after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Tingri, a rural region with a population of about 60,000 people around 80km north of Mount Everest on Tuesday. The temblor shook buildings as far away as Nepal and parts of India and Bhutan and destroyed more than 3,600 houses around Tingri, presenting a formidable task to rescuers in an area where the average elevation is more than 4,000m.
![[Tibetans in Nepal offer prayers at a monastery in memory of those killed in Tuesday’s earthquake]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/09/08/2025-01-08T103911Z_891613356_RC2K5CAFHWE0_RTRMADP_3_CHINA-QUAKE-TIBET.jpg)
Experts say those trapped under the rubble about 48 hours after the quake likely have succumbed to hypothermia, with temperatures dropping as low as minus -18C at night. Power and water remain cut off due to the disaster. Rescue operations have focused on 27 villages within a 20-km radius of Tingri, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. The area is home to 7,000 people.
Chinese officials on Wednesday ended the search for survivors, saying the focus was shifting to relocating the displaced and treating the injured after pulling 407 people from the rubble. Around 46,500 people affected by the earthquake have been transferred to 187 resettlement sites in towns surrounding the epicentre, state media reported. Rescue personnel have begun erecting prefabricated houses to replace the tents for the displaced.
