(TibetanReview.net, Aug08’25) – China said Aug 7 that more than 600 victims of the devastating 7.1-magnitude earthquake which hit Tibet’s Mt Everest county of Dingri on Jan 7 this year will move into new homes in the coming days. While China put the number of casualties from that earthquake at 126, with more than 27,200 buildings damaged and 3,612 homes collapsed, independent reports said up to more than 400 had died.
Residents of Zingkar Village in Dingri’s Dramso Township will move into new homes on Aug 15, China’s Tibet news service tb.tibet.cn Aug 7 cited the village party committee secretary Pasang as saying, speaking to visiting Chinese journalists. All the 126 homes in the village with more 600 residents were damaged or destroyed, the report said.
The report did not say how many more Tibetans will move into renovated or rebuilt homes, and when. It only said the entire displaced people in Dramso Township will move into rebuilt homes by the end this month.
However, China’s official Xinhua news agency earlier reported Feb 1 that by Jan 31, some 7,733 makeshift houses and 9,941 tents had been built to house 47,787 affected residents.
As a matter fact, the full scale of the casualties, damage, and destruction wrought by the earthquake, which was felt in neighbouring countries too, remain unknown due to lack of access, transparency, and censorship. The casualties figures were not revised after Jan 9.
Altogether, 206 villages across 26 townships in five counties were stated to have been affected, with China’s Central News Agency reporting Jan 9 that the earthquake victims had increase to 61,500, with 3,612 houses collapsed.
The earthquake was also reported to have damaged some dams, with China’s official Xinhua news agency reporting Jan 16 that some 1,500 people from six villages downstream had been evacuated as precautionary measure after a tilt was detected at the wall of the La’ang Reservoir in Changsuo (Dramso) Township.
Kan Shu, the project manager of the Shanghai Aid Project in Zingkar Village, has said the new houses were designed to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 8.
Xiao Jun, the head of Dramso Township, has said the reconstruction of houses for villagers in his township will be completed by the end of August.
We must always keep in mind the loving care of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Party Central Committee, unite as one, and work hard to build a beautiful new home, he was cited as saying.