A powerful earthquake struck western Tibet on Tuesday, killing at least 53 people and leaving many others trapped under rubble.
The disaster also caused panic across the border in Nepal, where the tremor was felt strongly.
China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported that 62 people were injured in the quake, citing information from the regional disaster relief headquarters. Rescue efforts are ongoing, with about 1,500 fire and rescue workers deployed to search for survivors, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the earthquake at a magnitude of 7.1 and said it was relatively shallow, with a depth of about 10 kilometers (6 miles). Chinese authorities, however, recorded the quake as a magnitude 6.8.
The epicenter of the earthquake was about 75 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Mount Everest, near the border between Tibet and Nepal. The region is known for high seismic activity due to the clash of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, which cause frequent earthquakes and significant geological changes in the Himalayan mountains.
The area around the epicenter has an average altitude of about 4,200 meters (13,800 feet), making rescue operations challenging, the China Earthquake Networks Center noted in a social media post.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that a few small communities are located within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of the epicenter. Larger cities, including Shigatse, 23 kilometers (14 miles) away, and Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, about 380 kilometers (240 miles) from the epicenter, were also affected by the tremor.
In Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, located about 230 kilometers (140 miles) away, residents were jolted awake and ran into the streets in panic. However, no immediate damage or casualties were reported from Nepal’s remote mountainous areas closer to the epicenter.
The U.S. Geological Survey noted that the region has experienced at least 10 earthquakes with magnitudes of 6 or more over the past century.
