Over 100 dead in earthquake in Tibet
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You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 14 hours GMT on Tuesday the 7th of January. An earthquake has struck near Mount Everest in the Chinese region of Tibet, killing more than 100 people. The French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has died at the age of 96. And Paris marks 10 years since the deadly Islamist attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Also in the podcast... We wanted to start the year off with hope and optimism. Every species matters, whether it is a chameleon the size of a paperclip all the way to a whale shark.
We hear about new efforts to protect ten weird and wonderful species. A powerful earthquake in the Chinese region of Tibet has killed at least 106 people as we record this podcast. The centre of the 7.1 magnitude quake was Shigatse, one of the world's highest regions and traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, the second highest authority in Tibetan Buddhism. The epicentre was about 80 kilometres north of Mount Everest, but tremors were also felt in Nepal and parts of India. Ektev Adhikari leads the National Emergency Operations Centre in Nepal.
Immediately after the earthquake, we activated our emergency response protocol and coordination was established with the local authorities. But we have the difficulty of the rock terrain, highest Himalayan terrain, including some of the world's highest peaks. And this time is winter season, so the temperature is also freezing fast.
Since China annexed Tibet in the 1950s, it's kept a tight control on the autonomous region. Our correspondent Laura Bicker is monitoring developments from Beijing.
What we have seen are a number of new pictures that come from us from the worst hit areas. We've seen rescuers combing through the rubble brick by brick searching for survivors. We've We've seen a number of injured people who are out on the street, many of them elderly, many of them young people. We've also seen that the army has arrived. Now, they seem to be constructing a number of tents. Just on the back of what you've just heard about the weather, we are told that the temperature in the region is going to dip down to minus 18 degrees Celsius overnight. So that is a real challenge for rescuers. We've also seen the infrastructure, the roads collapsed. have been split in half, many of them, by the shifting ground. So many of them are impassable.
And the Air Force launched this unmanned drone, and it's given us footage of the whole region. And from there, you get an idea of both the region itself, which sits at the base of Mount Everest, but also the challenges ahead, because not only is it remote, these are scattered communities, and their homes really have been shattered recently. by this powerful quake.
And how have the authorities been reporting on all this? Obviously, they control the media.
Yes, the reason we're reporting from Beijing, I'm the China correspondent, but I cannot visit Tibet without permission and a permit from the government. Therefore, it is not easy for me to report on this. I'm totally relying on what we're hearing and seeing from Chinese state media. What they're saying is that the rescue effort has been swift, that 1,500 trained search and rescue personnel have been sent along with the army. and that President Xi himself has called for an all-out effort to rescue people, minimise casualties and resettle those whose homes have been damaged.
Laura Becker in Beijing. Tingri County in Tibet, near the epicentre of the earthquake, is a popular base for climbers preparing for Everest expeditions. But few attempt the ascent at this time of year, and the sole mountaineer with a permit had already left base camp after failing to reach the summit.
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