Kathmandu: Nepal and China have agreed to jointly re-measure the height of Mount Everest, amidst reports that the world's highest peak may have shrunk after the massive earthquake that shook the Himalayan nation in 2015.
Many geologists have argued that the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that jolted Nepal in April 2015 may have shrunk the mountain by about three centimetres, while the current officially recognised height of Mount Everest is 8,848 metres.
In 2017, India has also proposed to Nepal help in re-measuring the height of Mount Everest.
The decision to jointly re-measure the height of Mt. Everest was taken after Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with his Nepalese counterpart Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli here during the weekend.
"Recognising that Mount Sagarmatha /Zhumulangma is an eternal symbol of the friendship between Nepal and China, the two sides will promote cooperation in different fields, including addressing climate change and protecting the environment," a joint statement issued by the two governments on Sunday said.
"They will jointly announce the height of the Mount Sagarmatha/Zhumulangma and conduct scientific researches," the statement said, using the Nepalese and Tibetan names of Mount Everest.
As a part of its 250 years completion celebrations, the Survey of India has proposed to re-measure the height of Mount Everest during the year 2017.
India was the first country under Sir George Everest's leadership as Surveyor General of India' to have declared the height of Mount Everest and establish it as the highest peak in the world in the year 1855. Subsequently, India once again carried out the exercise and declared the height of Mount Everest in the year 1956.
After the Gorkha Earth Quake in the year 2015, various doubts were raised by the scientific community. In response to this, the Survey of India proposed re-measuring the height of Mount Everest as an 'Indo-Nepal Joint Scientific Exercise' along with Survey department of Nepal.