Authorities moved more than 47,000 people to shelters in earthquake-hit Tibet, Chinese officials said on Thursday, while rescuers widen a massive combing effort for survivors near the foothills of the Himalayas, despite slim survival odds.

Authorities moved more than 45,000 people in earthquake-hit Tibet to shelters in a massive rescue operation at the foot of the Himalayas as they wound down the search in a high-altitude environment where the odds of survival were always slim.

Rescue workers in the freezing, high-altitude Tibet region are searching for more survivors and victims, one day after a strong earthquake leveled thousands of houses and killed at least 126 people near a holy city for Tibetan Buddhists.