In Tibet Autonomous Region, the county of Dingri in Shigatse City has yet to recover from the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck last week. On Monday night (January 13th), the area was hit by two strong aftershocks within less than a minute.
According to the Beijing Earthquake Network Center, at local time 20:57, Dingri County experienced a 4.9-magnitude earthquake with a depth of 10 kilometers. Just one minute later, at 20:58, another 5.0-magnitude earthquake occurred with the same depth of 10 kilometers, only 9 kilometers away from the epicenter of last week’s earthquake.
The Tibet Autonomous Region Earthquake Administration stated that these were the strongest aftershocks following the 6.8-magnitude earthquake in Dingri County on January 7th.
The 6.8-magnitude earthquake on January 7th in Dingri County, Tibet has already resulted in at least 126 deaths and 338 injuries. Located at a high altitude, with winter nighttime temperatures dropping to minus 15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit), over 47,000 residents have been relocated to tents and prefabricated houses.
The southwestern region of China, Nepal, and northern India frequently experience earthquakes due to the collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate. The Dingri region is situated on a seismic zone where the Indian Plate is pushing beneath Tibet, posing a high earthquake risk.
The recent earthquake in Tibet also caused damage to four reservoirs. Prior to the earthquake in Dingri County, which serves as a gateway to the northern region of the Everest area, experts raised concerns about the extensive construction of dams in this remote and earthquake-prone region by both China and India.
Last Friday (January 10th), Reuters cited researchers who reported that approximately 68 major dams in the Himalayan region derive their hydropower resources from high-altitude lakes and rivers, with only one-fifth of them currently being developed. Researchers warn that these hydropower resources are vulnerable to earthquake risks.
Currently, there are 101 projects in the planning or construction phase.
According to Voice of America, earthquakes have previously led to dam failures, especially due to landslides and rolling rocks triggered by earthquakes. A study published in 2018 revealed that nearly one-fifth of Nepal’s hydropower was disrupted for over a year following the major earthquake in 2015.