A magnitude 6.8 earthquake rocked the northern foothills of the Himalayas near one of Tibet’s holiest cities on Tuesday, Chinese authorities said, killing at least 95 people and shaking buildings in neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and India.
The quake hit at 9:05am (0105 GMT), with its epicentre located in Tingri, a rural county known as the northern gateway to the Everest region, at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles), according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre. The US Geological Service put the quake’s magnitude at 7.1.
At least 95 people wereknown to have been killed and 130 injured on the Tibetan side, China’s state-run television reported six hours later. There were no reports of deaths elsewhere.
Southwestern parts of China, Nepal and northern India are frequently hit by earthquakes caused by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
Tuesday’s epicentre was around 80 km (50 miles) north of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain and a popular destination for climbers and trekkers.
