At least nine people died on Tuesday and several buildings collapsed in the Chinese region of Tibet, after a powerful earthquake that struck the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, Chinese state media reported.
“Nine people have died so far,” according to a preliminary toll, the state agency Xinhua said, citing local authorities.
The 6.8 magnitude earthquake had its epicenter in the Chinese county of Dingri, near the border with Nepal, at 9:05 a.m. (01:05 GMT).
“Dingri county and its surroundings experienced very strong tremors and several buildings near the epicenter collapsed,” state television CCTV reported.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) previously said the magnitude was 7.1.
According to Xinhua, until 10:00 a.m. local time, “multiple repercussions” had been recorded, the strongest of magnitude 4.4.
The news agency said that “local authorities are contacting several towns in the county to assess the impact of the earthquake.”
In Kathmandu, more than 200 km southwest of the epicenter, buildings shook and authorities said they were checking for possible damage.
“It shook quite hard here, everyone is awake but we don’t know if there was damage,” said government official Jagat Prasad Bhusal in the Namche region of Nepal, near Everest.
Nepal is located on a geological fault where the Indian tectonic plate presses the Eurasian plate, which is why there are frequent earthquakes.
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