Dispatches

Magnitude 7 Earthquake Strikes China's Tibet, Reports Differ on Casualties

A magnitude 7 earthquake struck China's Tibet on Thursday evening, and the early reports differ on whether people were killed.

The Continental Gazette standing plate
From the pages of The Continental Gazette.

ABC News reported that a magnitude 7 earthquake struck China's Tibet on Thursday evening. According to that report, there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties at the time it was published.

CBS News reported that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Tibet and that more than a dozen people were killed, according to local officials. The CBS News summary did not name those officials.

The two reports differ on casualties. ABC News described no immediate reports of damage or casualties, while CBS News reported more than a dozen deaths. The summaries do not explain the difference, and neither summary says when the deaths were reported or how the figures were gathered.

The reports also differ in how they state the magnitude, with ABC News giving 7 and CBS News giving 7.0. Both place the quake in Tibet, China, and both describe it as striking on Thursday, though CBS News's summary does not give a day or time of its own.

Neither summary gives the location of the quake within Tibet, its depth, or the number of people affected. No official damage assessment is cited in either report, so the casualty figures reported by CBS News have not been confirmed by the other source reviewed here.

Sources: ABC News: A magnitude 7 earthquake shakes China's Tibet; CBS News: Powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes in Tibet.

The Continental Gazette • Printed for the Publick

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