Nepal earthquake: Panic jolts Bangladesh and Tibet, 14 dead, many injured

Beijing/Dhaka: At least 12 people, including an 83-year-old woman, were killed on Saturday in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region after a powerful earthquake of 7.9 magnitude jolted neighbouring Nepal.

The earthquake killed 12 people and seriously injured many others in Tibet, state-run Xinhua news agency cited local authorities as saying.

The woman was killed after her house collapsed in Nyelam County in Shigatse City. The quake was felt in the cities of Lhasa and Shigatse.

Houses were damaged in Nyelam County and telecommunication services were interrupted in counties on the China-Nepal border, the report said.

In Bangladesh, the private Samoy TV reported that 30 workers were wounded at a readymade garments factory in suburban Savar while eight people were wounded at a unit in central Comilla, as they rushed together to the staircases in panic.

Two were killed and hundreds injured because of the earthquake, said sources.

The tremors also caused cracks in a building at a public university.

Officials could not be reached immediately to ascertain if anyone was critically wounded during the tremor, the reports said.

Witnesses and reports said panic spread in the Dhaka as people hurriedly rushed out of their houses and offices while the high-rise buildings shook as the tremors jolted most parts of the country twice within a few seconds.

Five geological fault lines run through Bangladesh, exposing the country to the risk of a major quake. Dhaka alone has some 70,000 vulnerable buildings.