Powerful earthquake shook the highlands of western China and parts of Nepal on Tuesday, damaging hundreds of homes, littering streets with rubble and killing at least 95 people in Tibet. Many others were trapped as dozens of aftershocks rocked the remote region.
Rescuers climbed piles of broken bricks, some using ladders in heavily damaged villages, as they searched for survivors. Video footage released by China’s Ministry of Emergency Management shows two people being carried by stretcher workers across the uneven rubble of collapsed houses.
At least 130 people were injured in an earthquake-hit area in Tibet on the Chinese side of the border, state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing the vice mayor of Shigatse city.
More than 1,000 homes were damaged in the barren and relatively sparsely populated region, CCTV reports. In the video released by the television company, the debris of the buildings littered the streets and crushed cars.
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hits Tibet, killing at least 120 people
People in northeastern Nepal felt the quake strongly, but there were no initial reports of injuries or damage, according to the national emergency center. The area around Mount Everest, about 75 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of the epicenter, was empty in the dead of winter when even some residents move south to escape the cold.
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The morning quake woke residents of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu – about 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the epicenter – and sent them running from their homes into the streets.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers search for survivors after an earthquake hit Changsuo City in Dingri, Xigaze, southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday.
Xinhua via AP
The US Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.1 and was relatively shallow at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6 miles). The China Earthquake Network Center recorded a magnitude of 6.8. Shallow earthquakes often cause more damage.
The quake’s epicenter was in Tibet’s Tingri district, a seismically active area where the Indian and Eurasian plates collide and can cause earthquakes strong enough to change the height of some of the world’s highest peaks in the Himalayan mountains.
Tibet is part of China, but let Tibetans be loyal to the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader who has lived in exile in India since the failed 1959 anti-Chinese uprising.
Western governments and human rights organizations have repeatedly accused the Chinese government of abuses in Tibet, where it has suppressed dissent while investing heavily in economic development.
In the past century, there have been 10 earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 in the area hit by Tuesday’s quake, the USGS said.
About 50 aftershocks were recorded in the three hours after the quake, and the Mount Everest Scenic Area on the Chinese side was closed.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping. called for an all-out effort to save people, reduce casualties and resettle those whose homes were damaged. More than 3,000 rescuers have been deployed, CCTV said.
Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing was sent to the area to lead the work, and the government announced an allocation of 100 million yuan ($13.6 million) for disaster relief.
About 6,900 people live in three townships and 27 villages within 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) of the epicenter on the Chinese side, state media said. The average elevation in the area is about 4,200 meters (13,800 feet), the China Earthquake Center said in a social media post.
On the southwest edge of Kathmandu, video showed water pouring into the street from a lake in a courtyard with a small temple.
“This is a big earthquake,” the woman can be heard saying. “People are all shaking.”
Associated Press writer Binaj Gurubacharya in Kathmandu, Nepal, and researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
