CRI听力:Evacuation of Quake-hit Tibetan Border Town Underway

Thousands of people are being evacuated from the Tibetan town of Zham, which lies on the border with Nepal.

This comes amid lingering concerns about additional landslides following Saturday's massive earthquake.

More than 2,000 people in the town of some 6,000 have already been moved out.

Xigaze Mayor Zhang Hongbo says the evacuation is going smoothly.

"The regional Party Committee and the government have given us clear instructions about the evacuation. We're doing everything we can to move the people out, with the help of the PLA soldiers and the Armed Police."

17 seriously injured residents of Zham are among the first group to be evacuated.

More than 600 tents have also been set up at a resettlement site outside the danger zone.

Officials are warning the site is likely to be home to around 2,500 people for at least a year while the reconstruction of the town takes place.

At the same time, authorities are also relocating close to 19,000 people in Nyalam county, one of the hardest-hit by Saturday's quake in Nepal.

Zhang Quan with the Tibet Regional Armed Police Unit says one of their priorities is evacuating a school in the area.

"We are about to depart with 8 vehicles, carrying third-year teachers and students from the Nyalam Middle School. There are 218 of them, who will be moved to the Xigaze Vocational School to resume their education."

The quake in Nepal toppled more than 2,500 houses in southern Tibet, displacing some 52,000 people.

The death toll in Tibet stands at 25, with 4 still missing.