live from london. this is bbc news. a powerful earthquake hits china's tibet region, near mount everest — chinese state media say 95 people are dead and hundreds more injured. a huge rescue operation continues. flood warnings are in force across large parts of the uk — with a danger to life alert in south leicestershire. commemorations are taking place in paris to mark the tenth anniversary of the attack on the serrat girl magazine charlie hebdo after it published political cartoons of muhammad —— the satirical magazine. hello, i'm nicky schiller. we start with the latest on that major earthquake that has struck china's tibet

region. chinese state media says at least 95 people have been killed and more than 100 injured. the dalai lama has said he is deeply sadden. i want to show you some of the latest pictures we have from the scene where you can see that rescue and search teams are managing to pull people out of those buildings that have collapsed. there is rubble all over the ground there and one of the survivors is being pulled out on a stretcher. we are told that many of the survivors are afraid to go inside buildings because there have been strong aftershocks continuing to shake the area. the magnitude 7.1 quake struck at around 9am local time. let me give you a sense of the geography. it is in the same

region as mount everest. the tremors were also felt in the neighbouring capital of nepal, kathmandu and parts of northern india and bhutan. chinese state media say hundreds of houses have collapsed will stop you can see the damage to just one of the buildings in these mountain villages that are in the area, and as well as the devastation that's been caused, we also hear that power and water have been cut off and temperatures in the area are well below zero and we can see that the chinese military has launched a rescue effort. it is using drones to try and reach those most in need as authorities start to assess the impact of the impact —— of the impact. quakes are common in the region which lies on a major geographical fault line and we will discuss that more shortly but first hour china correspondent laura becker gave us this update from beijing.

obviously we are several hours on from this earthquake. it happened at nine in the morning, in that, as you say, remote mountainous area, and now we are beginning to see the impact of that 7.1 magnitude quake. we are seeing on cctv, which is the chinese state broadcaster, many people being taken from underneath the rubble. now it does seem that rescuers have managed to reach the area, despite its distance from any major city. they have managed to reach some of the worst hit areas, and the reason they have managed to do that is because the chinese air force launched a drone, an unmanned drone, which it flew right over the mount everest national park area, to try to find the cities and villages that have been most affected. you can see my backdrop, i am here in beijing. you can see the tall buildings, that is not the case in those mountainous regions. these houses are

low—lying, they are made of bricks and we have seen footage ofjust collapsed and they have fallen on people, and rescuers are combing through the rubble, trying to find survivors. we have also seen many people, elderly, children, out on the street, being treated by both the army, by the police, and by rescuers themselves. hundreds of people, hundreds of rescuers have been despatched. president xi jinping announced this morning that he issued instructions to ensure that civilian casualties are at a minimum, and those who have lost their homes can be at least housed somewhere warm, and somewhere dry for the time being. that is going to be a challenge, becausejust as getting rescuers in there is going to be difficult, it will be really difficult to get aid trucks into these mountainous regions. so we are monitoring chinese state media,

we are seeing the pictures coming in and we are hearing the updates through press conferences, and the last one we had in the last hour, said that 95 people had been killed and 135 have been injured. that is the latest figure we have. we have just received this update from kathmandu. an early morning earthquake jolted people out of their bed in kathmandu, the capital of nepal. a lot of people burst out of their houses wary and scary as the buildings were trembling. although it several hundred kilometres south of the upper centre, the buildings shook violently on the tree is swept with birds clamouring and many lost out in the hope of safety and there was a report of a personjumping safety and there was a report of a person jumping from a rooftop in kathmandu and getting injured and in southern nepal around one dozen students fainted and had to be treated in a local hospital. until afternoon there was no major reports of any casualties in the pool but it brought back

memories of the big earthquake in 2015. people recall the massive destruction by the earthquake and were filled full of aftershocks, and since it is an awkward mountainous region, there were fears of tremors triggering avalanches or outburst but there have been no such report yet. the mountaineering season this year is yet to begin so therefore they were very few tourists in they were very few tourists in the region. we they were very few tourists in the region-— they were very few tourists in the region. we can speak to a lecture in _ the region. we can speak to a lecture in the _ the region. we can speak to a lecture in the school- the region. we can speak to a lecture in the school of- the region. we can speak to a lecture in the school of earth | lecture in the school of earth sciences at the university of bristol, and thank you for joining us —— a lecturer. give our audience an idea of why earthquakes happen in this region. earthquakes happen in this reuion. , , , ., ., region. yes, this is a region were essentially _ region. yes, this is a region were essentially india - region. yes, this is a region were essentially india is - were essentially india is pushing northwards and squashing an area that sits between india and mongolia and kazakhstan to the north and it has been squashed up and formed the tibetan plateau and the plateau is extremely high and

essentially cannot get any higher, so it is escaping towards the east and been stretched towards the east towards mainland china and that leads to lots of normal faulting earthquakes, the type that this earthquake was which accommodates extending of the crust, and they happen all the way throughout the tibetan plateau, so this whole area of high topography in tibet is really exposed and a risk to these large earthquakes, so it's not something unexpected but it's certainly something very unfortunate. 31 but it's certainly something very unfortunate.— very unfortunate. 7.1 in magnitude. _ very unfortunate. 7.1 in magnitude. give - very unfortunate. 7.1 in magnitude. give us- very unfortunate. 7.1 in magnitude. give us an | very unfortunate. 7.1 in - magnitude. give us an idea. is that they for the area or is this the sort of quake you would expect, magnitude why is there? ., , would expect, magnitude why is there? . , , , there? there have been plenty of magnitude _ there? there have been plenty of magnitude seven _ there? there have been plenty| of magnitude seven earthquake shop similarforce. of magnitude seven earthquake shop similar force. there was one in the early 2000 on the northern side of the tibetan plateau and there are lots of smaller magnitude six normal faulting earthquakes, probably one every few years in the

tibetan plateau, so they are relatively common but the thing that makes them particularly hazardous is when they happen close to population centres because tibetan plateau is relatively unpopulated often we don't hear about these earthquakes making the news but this one is towards the south of the tibetan plateau and close to kathmandu and bhutan and in this case it has caused more damage. i and in this case it has caused more damage.— more damage. i suppose the issue is the _ more damage. i suppose the issue is the aftershocks - more damage. i suppose the| issue is the aftershocks which have been happening.- have been happening. yes, - re have been happening. yes, pretty much _ have been happening. yes, pretty much every - have been happening. yes, i pretty much every earthquake within the shallow crust has aftershocks and there are a few general rules of thumb that come with aftershocks because they typically can last for a few months and the next biggest aftershock is a unit of magnitude smaller than the main shock but it is not always the case. and because this was a magnitude seven, a magnitude six aftershock would be expected just through the rule potentially cause serious damage ijust s iii”.-- potentially cause serious damage ijust through .. potentially cause serious damage ijust through the rule expected just through the rule of thumb and also it could of thumb and also it could

potentially cause serious potentially cause serious damage and as damage and as the aftershocks tend to cause a lot of problems because buildings have already been damaged in the initial main shock which can lead to further collapsing buildings, that will be a big concern for the people dealing with the response. i5 the people dealing with the resnonse-— response. is it possible to redict response. is it possible to predict when _ response. is it possible to predict when these - response. is it possible to - predict when these earthquakes might happen with the new technology we have?- might happen with the new technology we have? know is the short answer- — technology we have? know is the short answer. we _ technology we have? know is the short answer. we know— technology we have? know is the short answer. we know roughly l short answer. we know roughly where these kinds of earthquakes will happen and we roughly know what their rates are going to be through time but we can't say anything about exactly when they will happen so we can roughly forecast the probability of there being an earthquake of this size over a certain time period but we cannot say when and where. doctor sam nguyen penny, thank you for your inside, a lecturer at the school of earth sciences at the school of earth sciences at the school of earth sciences at the university of bristol. here in the uk, a number

of major incidents have been more than 140 flood warnings are in place across england — that means flooding is expected — and there's one severe flood warning, affecting caravan parks near barrow upon soar, which means there's potential danger to life. there are major road closures including the a1 road in lincolnshire and roads around the peak district including the wood had passed. aberdeen airport and liverpooljohn lennon airport have reopened and flights are due to start again shortly. bristol and manchester were affected earlier. lets get an overall picture of the situation. helena wilkinson is with us with an overall picture. so the airports are starting to reopen but we expect delays and cancellations. if but we expect delays and cancellations.— but we expect delays and cancellations. if you are one of those _ cancellations. if you are one of those people _ cancellations. if you are one of those people who - cancellations. if you are one of those people who are - of those people who are travelling at various airports today, in particular manchester, aberdeen, bristol and liverpool airports, they were all closed for a number of

hours. just to give you an idea of the kind of work that the airports were having to undertake because of the snow. manchester airport had 30 snowploughs and tractors clearing the snow away from the runway. those four airports have reopened but clearly if you are travelling, do expect delays at the airport. liverpool airport, a statement from them in the last half hour orso from them in the last half hour or so and as i say, the runway at liverpool airport has now reopened but the advice to passengers is to check with the airline for the latest information regarding particular flights, and information regarding particularflights, and also if you are travelling to the airport by road, then leave extra time for your journey. aberdeen airport has now reopened and again, the same advice to passengers, check the status with the airline and you

can imagine there will be a backlog to those flights trying to leave the airports that have been affected. in terms of the rest of the country, there continues to be heavy flooding and snow and ice and there are yellow warnings for snow and ice which remain in place and a new yellow warning has been issued for northern and western scotland as well as northern ireland and there are around at this time 150 flood warnings that remain in effect. flood warnings mean that flooding can be expected in the particular areas where there are those flood warnings. there is that severe flood warning remaining in place in leicester, barrow upon soar, which means there is a danger to life in that area and it remains in place at the moment in leicestershire. so, a lot of problems still across

the country with continuing snow and ice. we saw the very bad weather sweep through the country over the weekend and it is continuing today. but better news on the last few hours that the four airports, manchester, aberdeen, the four airports, manche