January 8th (AMSP/CGTN) – – Firefighters are working around the clock to transfer affected residents and search for survivors near the epicenter of a 6.8-magnitude earthquake which struck Tsogo Township in southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning.
Fifty firefighters from Xizang Forest Fire Brigade are searching across rubbles in Yejiang Village of Tsogo Township in an effort to rescue the survivors within the 72 hours since the quake took place.
The town has 76 households and over 90 percent of its buildings were destroyed by the earthquake.
The quake hit Dingri County in the city of Xigaze at 09:05 on Tuesday, with the epicenter located in Tsogo Township of Dingri. The area within 10 kilometers of the epicenter has an average altitude of about 4,446 meters.
As of 19:00 Tuesday a total of 126 people had been confirmed dead and 188 others injured.
Rescue is particularly difficult in a village like Yejiang where houses typically made of earth bricks and wood are especially vulnerable to earthquake due to fragile structure.
Research work in the village are completely conducted manually by firefighters since large vehicles were blocked from entering the village because of the narrow road.
Currently, all of the 230 trapped residents in Yejiang have been transferred to safe locations and more than 100 yaks were also relocated.
A total of 215 firefighters from the Xizang Forest Fire Brigade are currently searching for survivors and erecting tents for local residents across the affected towns.
amsp/cgtn-abp
CGTN