BEIJING: A magnitude 6.8 earthquake rocked the northern foothills of the Himalayas near one of Tibet\u2019s holiest cities on Tuesday, Chinese authorities said, killing at least 32 people and shaking buildings in neighboring Nepal, Bhutan and India.
\nThe quake hit at 9:05 a.m. (0105 GMT), with its epicenter located in Tingri, a rural Chinese county known as the northern gateway to the Everest region, at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. The US Geological Service put the quake\u2019s magnitude at 7.1.
\nAt least 32 people had been killed and 38 injured on the Tibetan side, China\u2019s state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
\nThe impact of the temblor was felt across the Shigatse region of Tibet, home to 800,000 people. The region is administered by Shigatse city, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism.
\nVillages in Tingri reported strong shaking during the quake, which was followed by dozens of aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 4.4.
\nCrumbled shop fronts could be seen in a video on social media showing the aftermath from the town of Lhatse, with debris spilling out onto the road.
\nReuters was able to confirm the location from nearby buildings, windows, road layout, and signage that match satellite and street view imagery.
\nThere are three townships and 27 villages within 20 km (12 miles) of the epicenter, with a total population of around 6,900, Xinhua reported. Local government officials were liaising with nearby towns to gauge the impact of the quake and check for casualties, it added.
\nTremors were also felt in Nepal\u2019s capital Katmandu some 400 km (250 miles) away, where residents ran from their houses.
\n\u201cWe felt a very strong earthquake. So far we have not received any report of injuries or physical loss,\u201d said Anoj Raj Ghimire, chief district officer of Solukhumbu district in Nepal, at the foot of Mount Everest, the world\u2019s highest mountain.
\n\u201cWe have mobilized police and other security forces as well as locals to collect information about the damage,\u201d he added.
\nThe quake also jolted Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, and the northern Indian state of Bihar which borders Nepal.
\nSo far, no reports of any damage or loss to property have been received, officials in India said.
\nSouthwestern parts of China, Nepal and northern India are frequently hit by earthquakes caused by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
\nA huge quake in China\u2019s Sichuan province in 2008 killed almost 70,000 people, while a magnitude 7.8 tremor struck near Katmandu in 2015, killing about 9,000 people and injuring thousands in Nepal\u2019s worst ever earthquake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING: A magnitude 6.8 earthquake rocked the northern foothills of the Himalayas near one of Tibet\u2019s holiest cities on Tuesday, Chinese authorities said, killing at least 32 people and shaking buildings in neighboring Nepal, Bhutan and India. The quake hit at 9:05 a.m. (0105 GMT), with its epicenter located in Tingri, a rural Chinese county […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-453996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n