A navvy of armed traffic police repairs a snowslide affected road to quake-hit Jilung County in Xigaze City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, April 27, 2015. (Xinhua/Chen Tianhu)
As aid and support from China begins to reach Nepal after Saturday's earthquake, domestic relief and rescue efforts are also intensifying in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.[Special coverage]
The death toll from the quake rose to 25 with 117 injured in Tibet, authorities said late Monday. More than 20,000 were displaced in the high-altitude region, and relief efforts have been thwarted by bad weather.
BLOCKED ROADS
Nyalam and Gyirong counties of Xigaze City were the worst affected in Tibet, with highways blocked by multiple landslides.
A 37-km highway linking Nyalam County with Zham on the Nepal border was blocked in 13 places. Rescuers on Monday said that they had cleared a 10-km stretch of the road winding through high mountains.
"Aftershocks are our main concern at the moment; there is nowhere to hide," said Gyanga Tseten, detachment head of the Xigaze fire brigade.
Eighty percent of houses in Zham are seriously damaged and 3,500 people have been relocated, said Li Dong, deputy secretary of the Nyalam county committee of the Communist Party of China.
"There is only enough food in Zham for about three days," said Li, adding that there was a high likelihood of more landslides.
"Zham urgently needs tents, drinking water, food and medicine," said rescue worker Cpt. Xu Rongfeng.
In Gyirong, the main artery that links Gyirong Town with Gyirong landport was impassable, blocked by debris from more than 20 landslides. Military helicopters dropped relief goods to Gyirong and Nyalam on Monday afternoon.
A barrier lake, estimated to be 800 meters long and holding 280,000 cubic meters of water, formed 3 km from Gyirong port after a landslide blocked a river on Sunday. The water level had fallen by about 1 meter on Monday.
"It poses no serious danger any more as the inflow and outflow almost match," said Gong Tongliang, deputy head of the regional water department.
