Powerful earthquake rocks remote region of Tibet and parts of Nepal, killing more than 100

Hong Kong CNN —

More than 100 people have been killed after a powerful earthquake struck a remote region of Tibet on Tuesday morning, with tremors felt across the Himalayas in neighboring Nepal, Bhutan and parts of northern India.

The 7.1-magnitude quake struck at 9:05 a.m. local time at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) and was followed by multiple aftershocks, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The energy unleashed by the tectonic movement toppled houses in remote Himalayan villages, rocked a nearby Tibetan holy city and rattled visitors to a Mount Everest base camp.

Its epicenter, located in Tingri county high on the Tibetan plateau, was close to the border with Nepal, around 50 miles north of the world’s highest mountain.

At least 106 people were killed and 174 others were injured in the quake, according to state outlet China News Service. Nearly 3,000 houses were damaged, it said.

The tremors were 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,” said Bishal Nath Upreti from the Nepal Centre for Disaster Management, a non-government organization in Kathmandu.

Rescue workers search for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on January 7, 2025.

The region close to the epicenter is sparsely populated but small villages are nestled in isolated and often hard to access Himalayan valleys. About 6,900 people are estimated to live in 27 villages within a 20-km (12-miles) radius of the epicenter, according to Xinhua.

Chinese social media videos geolocated by CNN showed damaged roofs, shop fronts and