BEIJING — A strong earthquake shook a mountainous region in western China near Nepal on Tuesday morning, killing at least nine people.
State broadcaster CCTV cited the Ministry of Emergency Management for the toll, but did not say what caused the deaths.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-7.1 earthquake was centred in the Tibet region at a depth of about 10 km. China recorded the magnitude as 6.8.
The epicentre was located where the India and Eurasia plates clash and cause uplifts in the Himalayan mountains strong enough to change the heights of some of the world’s tallest peaks.
The average altitude in the area around the epicentre is about 4.2 km, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
CCTV said there were a handful of communities within 5 km of the epicentre, which was 380 km from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and about 23 km from the region’s second largest city of Xigaze.
In Nepal, the earthquake sent residents running out of their homes in Kathmandu. Streets were filled with people woken up by the tremor.
There have been 10 earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 in the area where Tuesday’s quake hit over the past century, the USGS said.