A magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck a remote, high-altitude region of Tibet late on Thursday night, killing at least 16 people, injuring dozens and collapsing hundreds of homes, Chinese state media reported, as more than 1,600 responders raced to the affected villages.

The quake hit Baqen County in Nagqu city at 10:33 pm local time at a shallow depth that amplified the damage. The China Earthquake Networks Center put the depth at 10 kilometres, while the US Geological Survey recorded 18 kilometres. The epicentre lay in a sparsely populated mountainous area about 191 kilometres east-northeast of Nagqu and around 390 kilometres northeast of the regional capital Lhasa, at an average elevation of about 4,864 metres.

Casualties and damage

State news agency Xinhua, citing the Nagqu city emergency management bureau, said 16 people had died and at least 32 were injured, 11 of them seriously; later reports put the injured toll higher, between 46 and 65, as assessments continued in an area where power and communications were disrupted. At least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed, local officials said, according to the Associated Press.

President Xi Jinping ordered all-out rescue efforts and prompt medical treatment for the injured, and China activated a level-III earthquake disaster emergency response. More than 1,600 rescue personnel were deployed, at least one survivor was pulled from the rubble, and relief supplies including prefabricated housing units, tents and folding beds began arriving. Railway authorities suspended train services through the affected region to keep routes clear for the relief effort.

A seismically active region

Tibet sits at the meeting point of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates and is one of China's most earthquake-prone regions. The October 22 quake was the strongest to strike China since 2024. In January 2025, a magnitude-6.8 earthquake in Tingri county killed more than 120 people, and in December 2023 a quake in remote Gansu province killed at least 127, underscoring the destructive potential of tremors in the country's western mountain regions.

Authorities were still evaluating the full extent of the damage on Friday, with communications disrupted in parts of Baqen county. Forecast snowfall and damaged roads threatened to complicate relief operations in the coming days, even as rescuers combed through damaged buildings in freezing conditions.