BEIJING - A severe earthquake estimated at 6.5 on the Richter scale struck a mountainous region in Tibet early Friday, the Tibet Seismological Bureau said.
The earthquake struck at 4:04 am (20:04 GMT Thursday) some 400 kilometers (240 miles) west of the holy Tibetan Buddhist city of Shigatse, according to the bureau.
"The nearest residential areas from the epicenter are two villages about 70 kilometers (44 miles) away," an official with the bureau said. "We`re still not sure about any damage caused by the quake."
The Hong Kong Observatory reported earlier that the earthquake had struck at 4:11 am.
Xinhua news agency later said the epicenter was near Payang township, along the Tibet-Xinjiang highway.
"There are evident cracks on some buildings, but no casualty or accurate damages have been reported yet owing to the country`s vast area and scattered population," the report quoted a local official as saying.
Strong earthquakes are relatively frequent in Tibet. In July last year, a part of Tibet near the border with Nepal was rattled by a powerful tremor measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale.
04/08/2005 05:31 GMT