A powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck a high-altitude, sparsely populated area of China’s Tibet region on Thursday evening, leaving at least 16 people dead and injuring dozens of others, local officials reported.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the seismic event occurred at 10:33 p.m. local time. The agency reported the earthquake’s epicenter at 119 miles east-northeast of Nagqu, with a depth of 11 miles. Meanwhile, China’s state media and the China Earthquake Networks Center, as cited by Xinhua, placed the focal depth shallower at 6.2 miles.
Chinese state media confirmed that 16 people died in the disaster, while 54 others sustained injuries. The Nagqu media office, citing city government officials, detailed that 11 of the injured individuals were listed in serious condition, while 43 others sustained minor injuries.
The tremor caused widespread structural damage across the high-altitude terrain, resulting in the collapse of at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds. National broadcaster CCTV reported that the disaster was the largest earthquake to hit the region in the past five years. Nagqu is situated more than 186 miles north of Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet region.
In the wake of the disaster, local authorities mobilized extensive emergency response operations. More than 1,600 personnel from the local county were deployed to conduct search and rescue operations, working through the night to comb through debris and ruined structures.
Relief supplies quickly began arriving in the affected high-altitude zone to support displaced residents and emergency crews. Shipments included 1,000 prefabricated housing units, approximately 3,000 tents, and folding beds, alongside essential equipment such as flashlights and winter clothing to combat the harsh conditions of the region.
The seismic event compounds a difficult period for the broader region, arriving less than two months after a devastating flash flood struck a border area between Nepal and Tibet. That earlier disaster, triggered by the collapse of a glacier, resulted in hundreds of deaths and the widespread destruction of several local communities.
