Agencies
BEIJING
Relief teams in western China shifted their focus to resettling survivors after a search on Wednesday for any remaining victims of a deadly earthquake that struck a day earlier near a holy city for Tibetan Buddhists.
Tents, quilts, stoves and other relief items were being delivered to people whose homes were uninhabitable or unsafe. State media said that more than 46,000 people had been relocated following the quake, which killed 126 and injured 188 others.
Tibetans, many of whom have fled persecution in China, held vigils for the victims in neighboring India and Nepal, both of which have sizeable communities.
The earthquake struck an outlying county in Shigatse, the second-largest city in Tibet and the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism.
It was not immediately known whether he was in his Tashi Lhunpo Monastery at the time. The epicenter was about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the main part of the city, which is called Xigaze in Chinese and sprawls across a high altitude plain.
More than 500 aftershocks were recorded after Tuesday’s earthquake, which the US Geological Survey said measured magnitude 7.1. China’s earthquake centre recorded a magnitude of 6.8.