Beijing: At least 30 people were killed on Monday when a strong earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale jolted Lhasa, capital of Tibet, the local government said.
The victims were found in Gedar township of Damxung County, the epicenter. More people are feared buried in debris and many houses collapsed, said the Tibet Autonomous Region Government.
Traffic and telecommunication were cut off in Gedar. Soldiers and medical staff were rushing to the site, official Xinhua news agency reported.
Deaths and injuries were also reported in a neighboring county, but the exact number of casualties was yet to be verified.
The epicenter was located at 29.8 degrees north and 90.3 degrees east, 82 km from Lhasa, according to the State Seismological Bureau (SSB).
Tremors were felt in Lhasa, but no major damages were found in buildings or historical sites there, including the famed Potala Palace and the Jokhang Temple, the report said.
The Qinghai-Tibet railway and Lhasa airport remained in normal services.
Meanwhile, officials in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Monday confirmed the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that shook its far-flung western mountainous on Sunday night didn't cause any casualties but altogether 225 rural households were damaged.
The quake epicentre was in the mountainous area about 100 km away from the county seat of Wuqia, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture.
The earthquake source was 33 km underground. The quake damaged telecom facilities in the region.
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