Chinese officials reported that the quake killed at least 53 people in Tibet and left many more trapped.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday that 62 people were injured in the quake, citing local disaster relief headquarters, as dozens of aftershocks occurred in western China and neighboring Nepal.
China’s Emergency Management Ministry said about 1,500 fire and rescue workers had been deployed to search for people in the rubble.
The earthquake occurred at 9:05 a.m. local time (01:05 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers and registered a magnitude of 6.8, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre. The United States Geological Survey reported the magnitude of this earthquake as 7.1.
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake is considered powerful and could cause significant damage. Several aftershocks were reported, with the largest measured at magnitude 4.4.
Xinhua reported that at least nine people were killed in the three townships of Changsuo, Quluo and Cuoguo in Tingri County near Shigatse, where many buildings collapsed, while local media reported that dozens of people were killed. It is known that
Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, said images coming out of the affected areas showed many collapsed buildings and homes.
“This is a very remote village in an inaccessible mountainous area, and now that it is winter and very cold, and it is not very close to a major city, the difficulties will be greater,” Yu said.
She added that the numbers are being monitored and expected to increase.
Very strong 7.0 #earthquake Hits near Shigatse, Tibet, China – Information, User Reports and Updates | January 7, 2025 09:05 AM (Shanghai Time): https://t.co/WRKs73D34j
— Earthquake Monitor (@EQAlerts) January 7, 2025
Reuters said collapsed store fronts could be seen in footage showing the aftermath in Lace, about 150 kilometers east of the city of Shigaches, with debris raining down on the road.
Shigatse is one of Tibet’s holiest cities and the seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism. The Panchen Lama’s spiritual authority is second only to the Dalai Lama.
It was reported that strong tremors were felt in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, which is about 400km away from the northern Indian state of Bihar, and residents ran out of their homes as buildings shook.
The area around Lobuche in Nepal’s Himalayan region near Mount Everest was also shaken by an earthquake and subsequent aftershocks.
“It shook very badly here and everyone has woken up, but we don’t know the extent of the damage yet,” said Jagat Prasad Bhusal, a government official in Nepal’s Namche district near Everest.
Nepal: An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale occurred 93 km northeast of Lobuche at 06:35:16 IST today. Strong tremors were felt in Kathmandu and other western provinces. pic.twitter.com/ysEiNulN7L
— IANS (@ians_india) January 7, 2025
Police and other security forces have been mobilized in Nepal to gather information about the impact of the quake, but no casualties have been reported in Nepal so far, a local official told Reuters.
Nepal and southwestern China are frequently affected by earthquakes.
According to CCTV, over the past five years, 29 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or higher have occurred within 200km of the Shigatse earthquake epicenter, all of which were smaller than the recent earthquake.
In 2008, a massive earthquake occurred in Sichuan Province, China, killing nearly 70,000 people.
In 2015, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, Nepal’s worst ever, struck near Kathmandu, killing about 9,000 people and injuring thousands more.
