6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes Tibet

By Lobsang Tenchoe

DHARAMSALA, Nov 18: A shallow earthquake measuring 6.3 on Richter scale struck Nyingchi prefecture in the traditional Tibetan province of U-Tsang early morning today.

“The quake struck at 6:34 am (Beijing time) at a shallow depth of 6.2 miles (10 km) on the Tibetan Plateau,” reports the United States Geological Survey.

23721766_1727155560662180_320967527_nAccording to a report on Reuters, there were no immediate reports of significant damage or injuries as the quake’s epicenter was in an uninhabited region and that the government is yet to receive any casualty reports.

But the earthquake was followed by three aftershocks and has caused power outages and damage in villages near Nyingchi, and the emergency response staff had been mobilized to investigate, reports Chinese state media Xinhua.

The epicenter was within 150 miles (240 km) of the Indian towns of Along, Pasighat and Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh and the people in the region woke up to a tremor that lasted for a couple of seconds.

The high seismicity in the Himalayan region, considered to be an earthquake prone area, results mostly from the continental collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates.