Strong quake strikes Tibet close to Arunachal Pradesh

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/A strong earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale jolted the Nyingchi city and surrounding areas in Tibet, close to the border with Arunachal Pradesh, in the early hours today. No casualties were reported immediately but the quake caused power failure and damage to properties and roads in several villages of the region.

The epicentre of the quake was detected at a depth of 10 km in Nyingchi. Four minor aftershocks measuring between 5 and 3.1 on the Richter scale were reported from the city’s rural areas. Basang Cering, party chief in Zhaxigang village of Lunang Township, told that he could not stand still inside his house when the quake struck. Six houses in his village were damaged in the jolt.

Sources with local electricity supply said the power grids of both the Tibetan province and Nyingchi are operating normally, though an emergency response mechanism has been launched. The China Seismological Bureau observed that the highest seismic intensity of the quake affected an area of 500 square metres, which is sparsely populated.