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Tibet quake kills 10, leaves hundreds homeless

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In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, usable belongings were carried out by residents from the damaged building in Gedar Township of Damxung County in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region on 6 October 2008. Two earthquakes jolted the capital of Tibet and surrounding areas Monday, killing 10 people and collapsing hundreds of houses, Xinhua said.Xinhua/Purbu Zhaxi/Tibet

Two earthquakes that struck Tibet on Monday killed 10 people and collapsed hundreds of houses, according to agencies.

Rescuers rushed tents, food and water to the quake zone on Tuesday after the two strong earthquakes and scores of aftershocks rattled Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and surrounding areas.

Schools in Lhasa were closed on Tuesday for safety reasons, a day after the huge earthquake to its west on Monday and months after hundreds of classrooms were flattened in a devastating quake in Sichuan.

The quakes injured 19 people, and destroyed more than 150 homes, making families homeless.

A 6.6 magnitude quake hit Damxung (Tib: Damshung), 82 km west of Lhasa, at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. The area was hit again at 8:10 p.m. Monday by an aftershock which measured 5.2 magnitude

Damxung has a population of about 42,000 people, mostly herdsmen. The injured, many with bone fractures, were mostly women, children and the elderly because the men were away harvesting and foraging for winter, Xinhua said.

Tibet is a fairly earthquake-prone zone. An earthquake of 7.9 magnitude on 12 May in the mountainous province of Sichuan killed at least 80,000 people and devastated whole towns.

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