By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, May 24: Two earthquakes within the space of a few minutes have struck southern Tibetan areas of Shigatse and Dhingri on Sunday morning (May 22). The tremors were felt in the neighboring areas in Nepal as well as the Kathmandu valley.
The two “moderate” earthquakes measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale originating from separate epicenters were later detected by China Earthquake Networks Center later, according to reports. Shigatse was struck at 9:48 A.M with the depth of the epicenter 10 kms deep and Dhingri was struck a few minutes later at 10:05 A.M with a depth of 6 kms. Both the quake struck areas are in the so called Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), an administrative region created by China in 1965.
A local Chinese authority in Shigatse told CCTV, “We felt three quakes this morning. The one after 10 a.m. was the strongest. The houses were rocking, and the windows were shaking.”
Other moderate to minor earth quakes occurred throughout the morning till afternoon of May 22 (Sunday). Seismologist and the chief of Nepal’s National Seismological Centre, Lok Bijaya Adhikari, told reporters, “The tremors were also felt in some districts of eastern Nepal.”
No causalities were reported although some damages to properties were reported.
