Beijing: At least nine people were killed Tuesday morning after a powerful earthquake rocked a hilly area in western China close to Nepal, according to state media.
The Ministry of Emergency Management was mentioned by state broadcaster CCTV for the death toll, although no specifics regarding the casualties were provided, AP reported.
According to the US Geological Survey, the magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred in a hilly region of Tibet, close to the Nepali border, at a depth of roughly 10 kilometres (6 miles).
The magnitude was 6.8, according to China's earthquake monitoring bureau. According to CCTV, the average altitude in the vicinity of the epicentre is roughly 4,200 meters (13,800 feet).
A few communities were located within 5 kilometres of the epicentre, which was 380 kilometres (240 miles) from Tibet's capital, Lhasa, according to the CCTV online report.