A magnitude 7 Tibet earthquake struck late Thursday, killing at least 16 people and injuring dozens more in a remote, high-altitude region of northern Tibet.
The Tibet earthquake hit at about 10:33 p.m. local time (14:33 GMT), with its epicenter in a mountainous area near Nagqu, a sparsely populated city in the northern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is the strongest earthquake to hit China since January 2024, according to officials cited by Chinese state media.
State news agency Xinhua reported that at least 16 people were dead and that the number of injured had risen, with the Nagqu media office citing city government officials. Earlier reports put the injury count at 32, with 11 people in serious condition and others sustaining minor injuries.
At least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed in the Tibet earthquake, the Nagqu media office said. Authorities activated a level-II earthquake disaster emergency response in the area, Xinhua reported. Officials said the Tibet earthquake’s damage was still being assessed.
Where the Tibet earthquake struck
The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter was about 190 kilometers east-northeast of Nagqu and 390 kilometers northeast of the regional capital, Lhasa. Xinhua reported that the epicenter was in Maru township in Baqen county, where the tremor was clearly felt at the township office.
Township deputy head Lhawang Dagpo told Xinhua that the Tibet earthquake shook the township office building and left cracks in its walls. Houses collapsed in the area, and power and telecommunications services were disrupted in the county seat, the agency said.
Videos released by local state media showed residents leaving their homes after the shaking and seeking shelter outside or in cars parked on the street.
The quake struck at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, a factor that typically increases the damage from shaking. India’s National Centre for Seismology recorded the event at 20:03 IST on Oct. 22, placing its location in Tibet.
Rescue effort underway after the Tibet earthquake
Search and rescue operations continued on Friday, with more than 1,600 personnel from the local county deployed to the affected areas. Officials were carrying out checks of nearby villages and coordinating the response from the county seat.
Relief consignments sent to the region included 1,000 prefabricated housing units, about 3,000 tents, folding beds, flashlights and winter clothing, according to state media.
The earthquake triggered rockfalls that forced authorities to close a section of National Highway 317. Only emergency, rescue and official support vehicles were allowed through while crews worked to clear debris. Local railway authorities also halted trains passing through the affected area as a precaution, and communication services were disrupted in parts of the region.
Intermittent snowfall is expected in the affected region over the next three days, Xinhua reported, a forecast that complicates the Tibet earthquake rescue effort and the care of people displaced from damaged homes.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered all-out search and rescue efforts for the missing and prompt medical treatment for the injured, calling for every effort to minimize casualties, state media reported.
Deadly quakes have struck Tibet before
Earthquakes are relatively common in China, and Tibet has suffered several deadly tremors in recent years. In January 2025, at least 126 people were killed when an earthquake struck the rural Tingri county in Tibet.
In December 2023, a quake in the remote Gansu province in northwest China killed at least 127 people, according to state media, the country’s deadliest since 2014. A much larger tremor in Sichuan in 2008 left some 90,000 people dead or missing.
China’s state broadcaster CCTV described Thursday’s Tibet earthquake as the biggest to hit the region in five years.
The disaster also comes weeks after devastating flash floods and landslides along the Nepal-China border on Aug. 26, which left more than 1,400 people dead and thousands missing, according to updated figures. With rescue teams still working in Nagqu and the death toll subject to change, officials said damage assessments were continuing.