Nagqu quake kills 16 in Tibet

A magnitude-7 earthquake struck northern Tibet on Thursday night, killing at least 16 people and injuring 54, according to Chinese official media. The tremor occurred at 10:33 pm local time, with the US Geological Survey placing the epicentre 119 miles east-north-east of Nagqu at a depth of 11 miles.

The Nagqu media office stated that 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed in the city and surrounding areas. Search and rescue operations remained active as crews worked through the debris. China's national broadcaster CCTV identified the event as the most powerful earthquake in the region within the last five years.

Local authorities mobilized more than 1,600 workers from the county to assist with relief efforts. Xinhua News Agency reported that over 300 police officers and nearly 350 firefighters were dispatched to the zone. Logistics teams delivered 1,000 prefabricated housing units, 3,000 tents, folding beds, torches, and winter clothing to the affected population.

Infrastructure damage complicated the response. Railway authorities halted all trains passing through the region, and rockfalls closed a section of National Highway 317. The road remained open only to emergency and support vehicles while crews cleared debris. Xinhua noted that communications were down in parts of the area, with intermittent snow forecast for the following three days.

President Xi Jinping ordered an all-out effort for rescue and medical relief. Nagqu is located more than 185 miles north of Lhasa. Tibet experiences frequent seismic activity, with at least 126 people dying in a January 2025 quake in Tingri county. The region's seismically active status dates back to its geological formation, though recent events have drawn attention to the area's vulnerability.

In December 2023, a quake in Gansu province killed at least 134 people, marking the deadliest incident in China since 2014. That year, more than 600 people died in Yunnan province. The current event follows an August flood on the Tibet-Nepal border, where limited international media access obscured the full extent of the damage.

Footage from CCTV showed the immediate impact of the tremor, with people fleeing restaurants and goods falling from supermarket shelves. Rescuers were seen navigating buildings with collapsed roofs. The US Geological Survey recorded at least seven aftershocks with magnitudes between 4.3 and 5.2, each occurring at a depth of 6 miles.