At least 53 people in Tibet have been reported dead as a strong earthquake hit the region on Tuesday morning. The official news agency of China Xinhua reported that 62 others have been injured.
The earthquake struck Tingri county of Tibet with a magnitude of 6.8 near the border with Nepal according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre
At least 53 people in Tibet have been reported dead as a strong earthquake hit the region on Tuesday morning. The official news agency of China Xinhua reported that 62 others have been injured.
The earthquake struck Tingri county of Tibet with a magnitude of 6.8 near the border with Nepal according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC). However, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported the tremor as magnitude 7.1. China’s state broadcaster CCTV said that over 1,000 houses had collapsed in Tingri County.
The earthquake, relatively shallow at a depth of about 10 km, struck at 9:05 am local time and was followed by multiple aftershocks, according to USGS. The epicentre was about 75 km northeast of Mount Everest.
The earthquake's epicentre was near Shigatse, the second-largest city in Tibet, with a population of 6,40,000.
The tremors were also felt in neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and Northern India. Nepal's capital Kathmandu which is about 230 kilometers away from the epicentre was also rattled by the tremor and aftershocks as reported by AFP. Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said that the tremors were felt in seven hill districts bordering Tibet.
The epicentre was about 75km northeast of Mount Everest. The region experiences significant seismic activity due to the collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, which generates uplifts in the Himalayan mountains powerful enough to alter the heights of some of the world's tallest peaks.
About 1,500 fire and rescue workers were deployed to search for people in the rubble, China's Ministry of Emergency Management said.
The Himalayan region, prone to powerful earthquakes, witnessed a quake of 7.8 magnitude in 2015 which killed nearly 9,000 people. According to USGS, there have been 10 earthquakes of at least 6 magnitude over the past century in the area of the latest quake.