At least 126 people were killed and 188 injured as a strong earthquake struck the Tibet region on Tuesday morning.

The quake struck at 9:05 am local time (01:05 GMT) at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center, which recorded a magnitude of 6.8. However, the United States Geological Survey measured its magnitude as 7.1.

“A total of 126 people have been confirmed dead and 188 others injured as of 7:00 pm (1100 GMT) Tuesday,” Xinhua reported.

As an impact of the earthquake, tremours were felt in neighbouring Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and northern parts of India, particularly Bihar, where people were reportedly seen running outside their houses and apartments. However, no damage to properties has been reported.

According to the Bihar Disaster Management Department, tremors were felt in Patna, Madhubani, Sheohar, Munger, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Katihar, Darbhanga, West Champaran, East Champaran and several other districts along the India-Nepal border.

People in Katihar, Purnea, Sheohar, Darbhanga and Samastipur also came out on the streets when the quake took place.

The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) reported that the earthquake was recorded at 6:35 am and also revealed that two more earthquakes hit the region shortly after the first one.

While the second earthquake of magnitude 4.7 was recorded at 7:02 am at a depth of 10 km, the third earthquake of magnitude 4.9 at 7:07 am was recorded at a depth of 30 km.

Disaster relief aid, including cotton tents, quilts and items for high-altitude and frigid areas, had been dispatched by central authorities to areas impacted by the quake, Xinhua said.

The high-altitude county in the Tibet region is home to around 62,000 people and situated on the Chinese side of Mount Everest.

While earthquakes are common in the region, Tuesday’s quake was the most powerful recorded within a 200-kilometre radius in the last five years, the CENC added.

Nepal lies on a major geological faultline where the Indian tectonic plate pushes up into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayas, and earthquakes are a regular occurrence.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday emphasised “the full-scale search and rescue efforts, minimizing casualties to the greatest extent possible, properly resettling affected residents, and ensuring their safety and warmth through the winter”, state broadcaster CCTV said.

About 1,500 fire and rescue workers were deployed to search for people in the rubble, the Ministry of Emergency Management said.

China has also closed the scenic areas of its side of Mt Everest, also known as Mount Qomolangma for tourists.

Dingri is home to the base camp of the world’s highest peak.

According to local authorities, the staff and tourists were in safe condition after the quake, which hit the region at 9:05 am Tuesday (Beijing Time).

The hotel buildings and surrounding areas in the scenic area have remained intact, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Dingri Culture and Tourism Bureau.

However, the Qomolangma Station for Atmospheric and Environmental Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, located in Dingri, is experiencing a power outage.

Many people came out of their houses due to panic in Kathmandu as people witnessed the trees and electric wires on the streets shaking for some time.

At least half a dozen tremors with magnitude ranging from 4 to 5 were also recorded within a time span of an hour around 7 am, according to the USGS report.

The tremor was strong enough to terrorise people in Nepal, who recalled the 2015 great earthquake that killed 9,000 people.

However, a Nepal Police spokesperson says that so far they have not received any information regarding any major physical damage or human causality.

As the epicentre lies in Tibet stronger tremors were felt by people living in Northern Nepal, Nepal Police spokesperson Bishwo Adhikari said.

“It shook quite strongly here, everyone is awake,” said government official Jagat Prasad Bhusal in Nepal’s Namche region, which lies nearer to Everest.

In 2015, nearly 9,000 people died and more than 22,000 were injured when a 7.8-magnitude quake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes.

Three people were killed and dozens injured after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck along the mountainous China-Kyrgyzstan border in January last year.

A quake in December 2023 in northwest China killed 148 people and displaced thousands in Gansu province.

That quake was China’s deadliest since 2014 when more than 600 people were killed in southwestern Yunnan province.

In the December 2023 earthquake, subzero temperatures made the aid operation launched in response even more challenging, with survivors huddled around outdoor fires to keep warm.