China has evacuated more than 4,000 people trapped in a border town in Tibet Autonomous Region due to a high risk of landslides in the area following the powerful quake in neighboring Nepal. [Special coverage]
Nearly 1,000 displaced residents from Zham Town in Nyalam County arrived at a resettlement site in Lhatse County, some 300 km away from Zham, in army trucks, private cars and taxis on Thursday morning.
The rest of the evacuated will arrive later on Thursday. About 1,000 tents have been set up with water and power supply at an open ground resettlement area.
"Our house collapsed. Rock debris fell all over. Here we have food and shelter. We feel safe and relieved," said Basang Degyi, a farmer from Zham Town, who reached the resettlement site at 4 a.m. Thursday with her mother and grandson. Her husband is still on the way with other evacuees.
Access to Zham Town was cut off until Tuesday after rescuers cleared the road of obstructions triggered by Saturday's 8.1-magnitude earthquake in Nepal and the subsequent aftershocks.
The quake killed nine people in the hillside town, which lies at a busy land crossing between Tibet and Nepal in the south of the Himalayas.
The rescue headquarters in Tibet decided to evacuate the nearly 6,000 people in Zham as the risk of more landslides is high.
The death toll from the quake was 25 in Tibet, with 4 missing and 797 injured, according to the local publicity department. The quake affected nearly 300,000 people in Tibet, where more than 52,000 were displaced.
The devastating quake has left more than 5,000 dead in Nepal.
