Strong earthquake kills at least 32 people in Chinese Occupied Tibet

A strong earthquake shook a mountainous region in Tibet near Nepal on Tuesday morning, killing at least 32 people and around 38 others have been injured.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.1 earthquake was centred in the Tibet region at a depth of about 10 kilometres. In neighbouring country of China the quake was recorded at 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 4,200 meters, according to a news broadcaster.

There were a handful of communities within 5 kilometres of the epicentre, which was 380 kilometres from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet and about 23 kilometres from the Tibets second-largest city of Xigaze.

In Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, the earthquake sent residents running out of their homes after they were woken up by the tremor. No information was immediately available from the remote, mountainous areas closer to the epicentre across the border.

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.