A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the northern foothills of the Himalayas near one of Tibet’s holiest cities on Tuesday, according to Chinese authorities, killing at least 32 people and causing buildings to shake in neighboring Nepal, Bhutan, and India.
The earthquake occurred at 9:05 a.m. (0105 GMT), with its epicenter located in Tingri, a rural Chinese county near the Everest region, at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles), the China Earthquake Networks Centre reported. The US Geological Service measured the earthquake’s magnitude at 7.1.
At least 32 people were confirmed dead, with 38 others injured in Tibet, according to China’s state-run news agency Xinhua.
The earthquake’s impact was felt across Tibet’s Shigatse region, home to 800,000 people. This region is traditionally administered by Shigatse city, the seat of the Panchen Lama, a key figure in Tibetan Buddhism.
Villages in Tingri experienced strong shaking, followed by dozens of aftershocks, some as strong as magnitude 4.4.
A video from the town of Lhatse shared on social media showed crumbled shop fronts with debris spilling onto the roads.
Reuters confirmed the location using nearby buildings, windows, road layout, and signage that matched satellite and street view imagery.
The epicenter is surrounded by three townships and 27 villages within 20 km (12 miles), with a population of about 6,900. Local government officials are coordinating with nearby towns to assess the impact and casualties.
The tremor was also felt in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, around 400 km (250 miles) away, where residents ran from their homes.
“We felt a very strong earthquake. So far we have not received any report of injuries or physical loss,” said Anoj Raj Ghimire, chief district officer of Solukhumbu district in Nepal, near Mount Everest. “We have mobilized police, security forces, and locals to gather information about the damage.”
Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital, and the northern Indian state of Bihar, which borders Nepal, were also shaken. Indian officials reported no damage or loss of property.
This region, where China, Nepal, and northern India converge, is often hit by earthquakes due to the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
In 2008, a devastating earthquake in China’s Sichuan province killed almost 70,000 people, and a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck near Kathmandu in 2015, killing about 9,000 and injuring thousands in Nepal’s worst-ever earthquake.
