Strong earthquake hits Tibet, tremors felt in Bangladesh

A powerful earthquake has hit Tibet’s second-largest city of Shigatse, according to Chinese and US monitoring groups, Al Jazeera reports.

Meanwhile, the tremors were felt hundreds of kilometres away in Nepal, Bhutan, northern India, and Bangladesh. 

The earthquake struck at 9:05am local time (01:05 GMT) on Tuesday at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles), according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre, which recorded a magnitude 6.8 quake, while the United States Geological (USGS) Survey reported the earthquake to be magnitude 7.1. 

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake is considered strong and capable of causing severe damage.

China’s state broadcaster CCTV said there were a handful of communities within 5km (3 miles) of the earthquake’s epicentre, which was approximately 380km (236 miles) from the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.

USGS later added that at least six strong aftershocks were felt after the quake. 

A noticeable tremor was also felt at Pirganj of Kurigram in Bangladesh at around 7 am on Tuesday. However, no damages were reported. 

The Reuters news agency said that crumbled shop fronts could be seen in a video showing the aftermath from Shigatse’s nearby town of Lhatse, with debris spilling onto the road.

China’s Xinhua news agency said the earthquake caused houses in Tonglai village, in Tibet’s Tingri county, to collapse and potential casualties were being assessed.

Later, an AFP report citing Xinhua said, "A reporter learned from the Tibet Autonomous Region earthquake bureau that people have been killed, involving three townships including Changsuo township, Quluo township, and Cuoguo township in Dingri County."

Powerful tremors were also felt in northern India’s Bihar state and in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, some 400km (248 miles) away, where residents reportedly ran from their houses as buildings shook.

Areas around Lobuche in Nepal’s Himalayan region near Mount Everest were also rattled by the tremors and a series of aftershocks.

“It shook quite strongly here, everyone is awake, but we don’t know about any damages yet,” said Jagat Prasad Bhusal, a government official in Nepal’s Namche region, which lies near Everest.