Story highlights Chinese authorities say the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that devastated Nepal in April moved the mountain to the southwest

Chinese state media says a satellite monitor on Everest has observed its movement since 2005

It says the mountain has been moving northeast at a speed of 4 centimeters a year

(CNN) Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, was moved 3 centimeters (about 1.2 inches) southwest by the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that devastated Nepal in April, Chinese authorities say.

But the April 25 quake , which left more than 8,000 people dead, did not affect the height of the 8,848-meter (29,029-foot) mountain, according to the report by China's National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation.

Chinese state media reported the administration had set a satellite monitoring system on the peak in 2005 to observe the movement of the mountain.

In the decade since, Everest had been moving northeast at a speed of 4 centimeters a year, and had grown by 0.3 centimeters annually, state media reported.

The April earthquake reversed the direction of the mountain, shifting it to roughly where it would have been nine months earlier.

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