Powerful Tibet earthquake kills nearly 100, rattles Nepal

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the foothills of the Himalayas near one of Tibet's holiest cities on Tuesday, killing at least 95 people and collapsing hundreds of houses, Chinese authorities said.

The earthquake's epicentre was about 80 km (50 miles) north of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain. Tremors also shook buildings in neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and India.

The China Earthquake Networks Centre located the epicentre at Tingri County, known as the northern gateway to the Everest region, at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).

The U.S. Geological Service put the quake's magnitude at 7.1. It struck at 9:05 a.m. (0105 GMT).

At least 95 people were known to have been killed and 130 injured on the Tibetan side, China's state-run television reported. There were no reports of deaths elsewhere.

The quake's impact 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.

Many homes in Shigatse city were reduced to rubble, a video released by Tibet Fire and Rescue showed. Rescue workers searched through the debris of a ruined home and pulled out one injured person, it showed.

"Deeply saddened" 

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader who fled his homeland in 1959 after it was taken over by China, said he was deeply saddened.

"I offer my prayers for those who have lost their lives and extend my wishes for a swift recovery to all who have been injured," the Nobel peace laureate said in a message.

Mount Everest is a popular destination for climbers and trekkers but winter is not a prime season for climbers and hikers in Nepal.

A German climber was the lone mountaineer with a permit to climb Everest but he had already left the base camp after failing to reach the summit, tourism department official Lilathar Awasthi said.

China closed the Everest region to tourists after the quake, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said all-out search and rescue efforts should be carried out to minimise casualties and to resettle affected people.

More than 1,500 firefighters and rescue workers have been dispatched to the affected areas, Xinhua said. Some 22,000 items including tents, coats, quilts and folding beds have also been sent, it said.

Tremors, aftershocks

Villages in Tingri, where the average elevation is around 4,000-5,000 metres (13,000-16,000 feet), reported strong shaking during the quake, which was followed by more than 150 aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 4.4.

Crumbled shop fronts could be seen in a video on social media showing the aftermath in the town of Lhatse, with debris spilling out onto the road.

There are three townships and 27 villages within 20 km (12 miles) of the epicentre, with a total population of around 6,900, and more than 1,000 houses have been damaged, Xinhua reported.

Southwestern parts of China, Nepal and northern India are often hit by earthquakes caused by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.

Since 1950, there have been 21 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above in what is known as the Lhasa block, the largest of which was the 6.9-magnitude quake in Mainling in 2017, according to CCTV.

Mainling is located in the lower reaches of Tibet's Yarlung Zangbo river where China is planning to build the world's largest hydropower dam.

A magnitude 7.8 tremor struck near Nepal's capital Kathmandu in 2015, killing about 9,000 people and injuring thousands in the country's worst-ever earthquake. Among the dead were at least 18 people killed at the Mount Everest base camp when it was hit by an avalanche.

On Tuesday, tremors were felt in Kathmandu, some 400 km (250 miles) from the epicentre, and residents in the city ran out of their houses.

"The bed was shaking and I thought my child was moving the bed...I didn't pay that much attention but the shaking of (a) window made me understand that it's an earthquake," said Kathmandu resident Meera Adhikarii. "I'm still shaking out of fear and am in shock."

One person was injured in Kathmandu when he jumped off the top of a house after feeling the strong tremors, Nepal Police spokesman Bishwa Adhikari said.

The quake also jolted Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, and the northern Indian state of Bihar which borders Nepal.