According to a Chinese state media, the tremors was felt in neighboring Nepal and parts of northern India.
53 persons has been confirmed dead on Tuesday morning in the remote region of Tibet after a powerful earthquake struck the region.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) noted, that the 7.1-magnitude quake struck at 9:05 a.m. local time and was followed by multiple aftershocks.
In the report by the State news agency, 62 people were injured in the quake, while more than 1,000 houses were damaged in Tingri county, where the epicenter is located.
Both the USGS and the China Earthquake Networks Center said the epicenter was high up in the remote Tibetan plateau close to the Himalayan border with Nepal, around 50 miles north of Mount Everest.
According to Bishal Nath Upreti from the Nepal Centre for Disaster Management, a non-government organization in Kathmandu, added that the tremors was felt as far as Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. “It was very strong. People came running out of their houses. You could see the wires from poles shaken loose,” he said.
Chinese social media videos geolocated by CNN showed damaged roofs, shop fronts and debris piling on the streets of Lhatse county, some 86 kilometers (53 miles) from the epicenter. Some cars and motorcycles parked along the road were also damaged, the footage showed.
It was recalled that in 2015, a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the area of Kathmandu, in Nepal’s Solukhumbu district, just across the border from the Chinese county at the epicenter, killing about 9,000 people and injuring thousands.
In a statement following the quake, Chinese leader Xi Jinping called on officials to make all-out efforts to search and rescue survivors to minimize casualties, properly accommodate affected residents, and ensure their safety and warmth in the winter cold.
Rescue teams including the Chinese air force have joined in search efforts to search for survivors, immigration police officers were seen digging through rubbles with bare hands, according to social media videos posted by China’s National Immigration Administration.
The village was full of collapsed houses and crumpled walls, with some residents sitting on blankets on the roadside, sipping hot water to stay warm.
