China earthquake kills at least 9

BEIJING — A powerful earthquake shook a mountainous region in western China near Nepal on Tuesday morning, killing at least nine people.

State broadcaster CCTV cited the Ministry of Emergency Management for the report, but did not specify the cause of the deaths.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.1-magnitude quake was centered in the Tibet region, at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6 miles). China recorded a magnitude of 6.8.

The epicenter was located where the Indian and Eurasian plates collide and cause uplifts in the Himalayan mountains strong enough to change the height of some of the world’s highest peaks.

The average altitude in the area around the epicenter is around 4,200 meters (13,800 feet), according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

CCTV said there were a handful of communities within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of the epicenter, which was 380 kilometers (240 miles) from Tibet’s capital Lhasa and about 23 kilometers (14 miles) from the region’s second largest city. Xigazé.

In Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, the earthquake pushed residents out of their homes after being awakened by the tremor. No information was immediately available in remote mountainous areas closer to the epicenter across the border.

There have been 10 earthquakes with a magnitude of at least 6 in the area affected by Tuesday’s quake over the past century, the USGS said.