Official media said that an earthquake struck Tibet, west of China, killing at least 32 people

A strong earthquake shook a mountainous region in western China near Nepal on Tuesday morning, killing at least 32 people.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said 38 others were injured, citing the regional disaster relief headquarters.

The US Geological Survey said the 7.1-magnitude earthquake was centered in the Tibet region at a depth of about 6 miles. China recorded a strength of 6.8.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located where the Indian and Eurasian plates collided and caused uplifts in the Himalayas powerful enough to change the heights of some of the highest peaks in the world.

The average elevation in the area surrounding the epicenter is about 13,800 feet, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

CCTV said there were a few communities within 3 miles of the epicenter, which was 240 miles from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and about 14 miles from Shigaze, the region’s second-largest city.

In the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, the earthquake forced residents to leave their homes after they woke up to the earthquake. No information was immediately available from the remote mountainous areas closest to the epicenter across the border.

The US Geological Survey said that 10 earthquakes with a magnitude of at least 6 on the Richter scale occurred in the area struck by Tuesday’s earthquake over the past century.