Tremors were reported as far away as northern India and Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, where buildings shook.
Dozens of people have died after a powerful earthquake struck near Shigatse, Tibet's second-largest city, according to Chinese and American monitoring groups, and the tremors were felt hundreds of kilometers away in Nepal.
The earthquake struck at 9:05 a.m. local time (0105 GMT) on Tuesday at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to the China Earthquake Network Center, which recorded a magnitude 6.8 earthquake. , while the United States Geological Survey reported the magnitude 7.1 earthquake.
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake is considered strong and capable of causing serious damage. Multiple aftershocks have also been reported, the largest measuring a magnitude of 4.4.
The official Chinese news agency of people have died.
Al Jazeera's Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, said images coming out of the affected areas show many collapsed buildings and houses.
“These are very remote villages in mountainous areas that are difficult to access and that difficulty will be increased by the fact that it is winter now, very cold and not very close to any major cities,” Yu said.
“So far, the figures we have received from the authorities are 36 dead and 68 people injured. “Unfortunately, we are watching that number and expecting it to increase,” he said.
Very strong 7.0 #earthquake hits near Shigatse, Tibet, China – information, user reports and updates | January 7, 2025 09:05 am (Shanghai time):
— Earthquake Monitor (@EQAlerts) January 7, 2025
The Reuters news agency said video showed collapsed shop fronts showing the aftermath in Lhatse, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the city of Shigatse, with debris spilling onto the road.
Shigatse is one of the holiest cities in Tibet and the seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism, whose spiritual authority is second only to the Dalai Lama.
Strong tremors were also felt in the northern Indian state of Bihar and in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, about 400 kilometers (248 miles) away, where residents reportedly fled their homes when the buildings shook.
Areas around Lobuche, in the Himalayan region of Nepal, near Mount Everest, were also shaken by tremors and a series of aftershocks.
“It shook pretty hard here, everyone is awake, but we still don't know if there was any damage,” said Jagat Prasad Bhusal, a government official in Nepal's Namche region, near Everest.
Nepal: An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter scale struck 93 km northeast of Lobuche, at 06:35:16 IST today. Strong tremors felt in Kathmandu and other western districts pic.twitter.com/ysEiNulN7L
– IANS (@ians_india) January 7, 2025
There have been no reports of casualties in Nepal so far, although police and other security forces have been mobilized to gather information on the impact of the earthquake, a local official told Reuters news agency.
Nepal and southwestern China have been frequently affected by earthquakes.
According to CCTV, there have been 29 earthquakes with magnitudes of 3 or more within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of the epicenter of the Shigatse earthquake in the past five years, all of which were smaller than the most recent.
A major earthquake in China's Sichuan province in 2008 killed nearly 70,000 people.
In 2015, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, the worst ever in Nepal, struck near Kathmandu, killing about 9,000 people and injuring thousands.
