61,500 people affected by earthquake disaster in Tibet

In Beijing, Hao Tao, deputy director of the Tibet Autonomous Region Emergency Management Department, said that 224 resettlement sites have been set up with 12,730 tents erected; 47,500 disaster-affected residents have completed initial resettlement and their basic living needs have been ensured.

Also at the press conference, Mr. Li Tu Wu, Director of the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the Tibet Autonomous Region, said that according to preliminary investigations, up to now, the earthquake has caused 3,612 houses to collapse.

Explaining the reasons for the severe damage to houses in this earthquake, Mr. Ly Tu Vu said that there were three main reasons: the earthquake was of high intensity; the epicenter was shallow and had great destructive power; and the epicenter was located near surrounding towns and villages.

At present, the Tibet Autonomous Region Housing and Urban-Rural Development Department is organizing technical and professional forces to quickly go to the disaster area to comprehensively inspect the houses in the disaster area, promptly eliminate the danger, and conduct a coordinated damage assessment, laying the basis for formulating a post-disaster recovery and reconstruction plan in the future.

As of the morning of January 9, a total of 1,095 aftershocks had been recorded after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked the Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China on January 7. The quake killed at least 126 people, injured 188 others and collapsed thousands of homes. Chinese authorities confirmed that this was one of the most damaging earthquakes to hit Tibet in years.