Reuters reported that on January 8, Chinese officials said that rescue teams had rescued more than 400 people trapped in the rubble caused by the January 7 earthquake in Tibet.
The rescue operation took more than 24 hours, but some people were still missing. The weather conditions were extremely harsh, with temperatures dropping to minus 18 degrees Celsius at night and the search area being as large as Cambodia, making it difficult for the rescue team.
Experts warn that freezing weather can put those trapped or without shelter at risk of hypothermia and can only survive for about five to 10 hours.
The earthquake killed at least 126 people and injured 188 in Tibet, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The earthquake occurred at 9:05 a.m. (local time) with an initial estimated magnitude of 6.8 and its epicenter in Tingri County, Tibet Autonomous Region. Later, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) determined the earthquake's magnitude to be 7.1.
Also according to Reuters, Tingri is known as the northern gateway to the Everest region - home to the world's highest mountain. The epicenter of the January 7 earthquake was about 80 km north of Mount Everest.
The earthquake also caused mild tremors in some mountainous districts of Nepal bordering Tibet, according to information from Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).
Although no damage has been reported yet, a spokesman for the NDRRMA said police, security and local government forces were still being mobilized to the affected areas to gather information.
Nepal, India and southwestern China, including Tibet, are frequently hit by earthquakes due to the collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
In 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in the capital Kathmandu (Nepal) killed 9,000 people and injured thousands more. This is considered the worst earthquake in Nepal's history.
