January,7, 2025: A powerful earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck the northern foothills of the Himalayas near one of Tibet’s most sacred cities on Tuesday, resulting in at least 53 deaths. The tremors caused widespread shaking across neighboring countries, including Nepal, Bhutan, and India. The earthquake, which occurred at 9:05 a.m. (0105 GMT), had its epicenter in Tingri, a remote county that acts as a northern gateway to the Everest region. The China Earthquake Networks Centre reported the quake’s depth at 10 km (6.2 miles), as per Reuters. China’s national broadcaster CCTV confirmed that at least 53 people lost their lives in the Tibetan region.
Tremors were also felt in Delhi-NCR and several parts of North India, including Bihar. Key updates on the earthquake include:
The USGS noted that the area has experienced 10 earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 over the past century. However, today’s quake is the most powerful recorded within a 200-kilometer radius in the last five years. In comparison, a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake in 2015 claimed nearly 9,000 lives and injured over 22,000 people in Nepal, also destroying more than half a million homes. Nepal lies on a significant tectonic faultline where the Indian plate collides with the Eurasian plate, driving the uplift of the Himalayan mountain range.
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