China said 32 people have been killed and another 38 were injured by an earthquake that struck its far western region of Tibet.

The epicenter of the magnitude 6.8 quake that hit around 9:05 a.m. Tuesday morning was in Tingri county, in Shigatse city, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The earthquake knocked some houses down, Xinhua said, and aftershocks of up to 4.4 magnitude have been reported.

The largely rural county of Tingri is about 400 km (250 miles) southwest of the Tibet’s capital, Lhasa. It sits on the border with Nepal, and attracts some Chinese tourists visiting Mount Everest.

Local authorities have deployed more than 1,500 people for search and rescue efforts, China Central Television reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey put the earthquake at a magnitude of 7.0, saying it hit about 90 kilometers northeast of Lobuche, Nepal.