Urgency mounts in search for powerful Tibet earthquake survivors

Over 400 people trapped by rubble in earthquake-stricken Tibet were rescued, Chinese officials said on Wednesday, with an unknown number still unaccounted

Over 400 people trapped by rubble in earthquake-stricken Tibet were rescued, officials in China said on Wednesday, with an unknown number still unaccounted for after a tremor rocked the Himalayan foothills and shifted the region’s landscape.

The epicenter of Tuesday’s magnitude 6.8 quake, one of the region’s most powerful tremors in recent years, was located in Tingri in China’s Tibet, about 50 miles north of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. It also shook buildings in neighboring Nepal, Bhutan and India.

The quake was so strong that part of the terrain at and around the epicenter slipped as much as 5.2 feet over a distance of 50 miles, according to an analysis by the United States Geological Survey.

Twenty-four hours after the temblor struck, those trapped under rubble would have endured a night in sub-zero temperatures, adding to the pressure on rescuers looking for survivors in an area the size of Cambodia.

Temperatures in the high-altitude region dropped as low as minus 0 degrees Fahrenheit overnight. People trapped or those without shelter are at risk of rapid hypothermia and may only be able to live for five to 10 hours even if uninjured, experts say.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/tibet-earthquake-china-search-survivors-rubble-rcna186740

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