Powerful earthquake kills at least 95 in western China near Mount Everest
A strong earthquake killed at least 95 people in Tibet on Tuesday and left many others trapped as dozens of aftershocks shook the high-altitude region of western China and across the border in Nepal.
Officials in the region said at a brief news conference that 130 others were injured, state broadcaster CCTV said.
Video on CCTV showed orange-suited rescue workers climbing piles of debris blocking homes in a heavily damaged village, while chunks that had been knocked off buildings littered streets and crushed cars in other areas.
State media reported that about 1,000 houses were damaged, citing the Tibet earthquake relief headquarters.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake measured magnitude 7.1 and was relatively shallow at a depth of about 10 kilometres. China recorded the magnitude as 6.8.
The epicentre was about 75 kilometres northeast of Mount Everest, which straddles the China-Nepal border. The area is seismically active and is where the India and Eurasia plates clash and cause uplifts in the Himalayan mountains strong enough to change the heights of some of the world’s tallest peaks.
Mount Everest area closed
About 50 aftershocks were recorded in the three hours after the earthquake, and the Mount Everest scenic area on the Chinese side was closed after the quake.
About 1,500 fire and rescue workers were deployed to search for people, the Ministry of Emergency Management. Two hundred soldiers joined the search, CCTV said.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts to rescue people, minimize casualties and resettle those whose homes were damaged. Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing was dispatched to the area to guide the work.
CCTV said there are a handful of communities within five kilometres of the epicentre, which was 380 kilometres from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and about 23 kilometres from the region’s second-largest city of Shigatse, known as Xigaze in Chinese.
The average altitude in the area around the epicentre is about 4,200 metres, the China Earthquake Networks Center said in a social media post.
Tremors felt in Nepal
In Nepal, authorities asked officials in the mountainous area near the epicentre to search for any casualties or damage.
The National Emergency Operation Center in Kathmandu said people in northeastern Nepal strongly felt the earthquake but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage to houses.
A police officer in Solukhumbu district, where Mount Everest is located, said by telephone that there were no reports of damage. The area, often crowded with climbers and hikers, was empty in the depth of winter. Many residents move to the south to avoid the harsh winter.
About 230 kilometres from the epicentre in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, the earthquake woke up residents and sent them running out of their homes into the streets.
There have been 10 earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 in the area where Tuesday’s quake hit over the past century, the USGS said.
Published at Tue, 07 Jan 2025 11:12:25 +0000
North Korea boasts of successful hypersonic intermediate-range missile test
North Korea said Tuesday its latest weapons test was a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to strike remote targets in the Pacific as leader Kim Jong-un vowed to further expand his collection of nuclear-capable weapons to counter rival nations.
The North Korean state media report came a day after South Korea’s military said it detected North Korea launching a missile that flew 1,100 kilometres before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The launch, conducted weeks before Donald Trump returns as U.S. president, came off a torrid year in weapons testing.
North Korea demonstrated multiple weapons systems last year that can target its neighbours and the United States, including solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, and there are concerns that its military capabilities could advance further through technology transfers from Russia, as the two countries align over the war in Ukraine.
North Korea in recent years has flight tested various intermediate-range missiles, which if perfected, could reach the U.S. Pacific military hub of Guam. In recent months, North Korea has been testing combining these missiles with purported hypersonic warheads to improve their survivability.
North Korea since 2021 has been testing various hypersonic weapons designed to fly at more than five times the speed of sound. The speed and ability to manoeuvre such weapons are aimed to withstand regional missile defence systems. However, it’s unclear whether these missiles are consistently flying at the speeds the North claims.
The North’s state media said Kim supervised Monday’s launch, and that the weapon travelled 1,500 kilometres, during which it reached two different peaks of 99.8 kilometres and 42.5 kilometres and achieved a speed amounting to 12 times the speed of sound, before accurately striking a sea target.
Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the South Korean military believes North Korea was exaggerating capabilities of the system, saying the missile covered less distance and that there was no second peak.
Lee said the test was likely a followup to another hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile test last April and said it would be difficult to use such systems in a relatively small territory like the Korean Peninsula. He said the South Korean and U.S. militaries were continuing to analyze the missile.
Launch comes on heels of visit by Blinken
Kim described the missile as a crucial achievement in his goals to bolster the North’s nuclear deterrence by building an arsenal “no one can respond to,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
“The hypersonic missile system will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region that can affect the security of our state,” the agency quoted Kim as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is in North Korea for a rare visit and meeting with Leader Kim Jong Un, which has prompted concern in the West about military co-operation between the two countries.
Kim reiterated that his nuclear push was aimed at countering “different security threats the hostile forces posed to our state,” but KCNA didn’t mention any direct criticism toward Washington, Seoul or Tokyo.
The launch took place while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Seoul for talks with South Korean allies over the North Korean nuclear threat and other issues.
In a news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul on Monday, Blinken condemned North Korea’s launch, which violated UN Security Council resolutions against the North’s weapons programs. He also reiterated concerns about the growing alignment between North Korea and Russia in Moscow’s war on Ukraine. He described the military co-operation between Pyongyang and Moscow as a “two-way street,” saying Russia has been providing military equipment and training to the North and “intends to share space and satellite technology.”
According to U.S., Ukrainian and South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops and conventional weapons systems to support Moscow’s war campaign. There are concerns that Russia could transfer to North Korea advanced weapons technology in return, which could potentially enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear-armed military.
At a year-end political conference, Kim Jong-un vowed to implement the “toughest” anti-U.S. policy and criticized the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen security co-operation with Seoul and Tokyo, which he described as a “nuclear military bloc for aggression.”
North Korean state media did not specify Kim’s policy plans or mention any specific comments about Trump.
During his first term as president, Trump and Kim exchanged a series of bellicose threats after North Korean weapons tests, before meeting in person three times for talks that did not appear to substantially alter the relationship between the countries.
Even after Trump returns to the White House, a quick resumption of diplomacy with North Korea could be unlikely. Kim’s strengthened position — built on his expanded nuclear arsenal, deepening alliance with Russia and the weakening enforcement of U.S. international sanctions — presents new challenges to resolving the nuclear standoff, experts say.
Published at Tue, 07 Jan 2025 12:11:50 +0000
