A strong earthquake shook a high-altitude region 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 isolated region.
Rescuers climbed piles of broken bricks, some using ladders in badly damaged villages, searching for survivors. Videos released by China’s Ministry of Emergency Management showed two people being carried on stretchers by workers walking on uneven debris from collapsed homes.
At least 130 people were injured in the earthquake-hit area in Tibet on the Chinese side of the border, state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing the deputy mayor of Shigatse town.
More than 1,000 homes were damaged in the arid and relatively sparsely populated region, CCTV said. In a video posted by the channel, debris from fallen buildings littered the streets and crushed cars.
Residents of northeastern Nepal felt the earthquake strongly, but no injuries or damage were reported, according to the country’s National Emergency Operations 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 moved south to escape the cold.
The morning quake woke residents in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu – about 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the epicenter – and sent them pouring out of their homes onto the streets.
In this photo released Tuesday by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers search for survivors following an earthquake in Changsuo County, Dingri, Xigaze, southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. China).
Xinhua via AP
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured 7.1 magnitude 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.
Receive national news daily
Get the day’s top news, politics, business and current affairs headlines delivered to your inbox once a day.
The epicenter was in Tingri County in Tibet, in 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 Tibetans’ loyalties may lie with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader who has lived in exile in India since the failed 1959 anti-China 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.
There have been 10 earthquakes with a magnitude of at least 6 in the area affected by Tuesday’s quake over the past century, 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 all-out efforts to rescue populations, minimize the number of casualties and resettle those whose homes were damaged. More than 3,000 rescue workers have been deployed, CCTV said.
Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing was dispatched to guide the work, and the government announced the allocation of 100 million yuan ($13.6 million) for disaster relief.
About 6,900 people live in three townships and 27 villages within a 20-kilometer radius of the epicenter on the Chinese side, state media said. The average altitude in the area is around 4,200 meters (13,800 feet), China’s earthquake center said in a social media post.
In southwest Kathmandu, video showed water flowing down the street from a pond in a courtyard housing a small temple.
“It’s a big earthquake,” one woman can be heard saying. “The 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