Magnitude 7 earthquake kills at least 16 in China's Tibet

Nagqu — A magnitude 7 earthquake has struck a remote, high-altitude region of northern Tibet, killing at least 16 people and injuring 32, according to China's state news agency Xinhua, as reported by France 24. Authorities warn the death toll is likely to rise as rescue teams reach cut-off settlements.

The quake struck on Thursday at 10:33pm local time (14:33 GMT). The United States Geological Survey placed the epicentre in a mountainous area about 190km east-northeast of the city of Nagqu and 390km northeast of the regional capital Lhasa, at a shallow depth of 10km, Al Jazeera reported. Xinhua said the epicentre was in Maru township in Baqen county, where power and telecommunications were disrupted.

Casualty figures remain fluid. Xinhua's count of 32 injured was carried by CNA and France 24, but officials in Nagqu told Reuters that as many as 65 people have been hurt. Al Jazeera reported that at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed. Authorities suggested the area's sparse population may have kept the initial toll relatively low.

Beijing has deployed 1,600 rescue personnel and activated a level-II earthquake disaster emergency response, Xinhua said. Reaching the affected area is proving difficult: the region sits at an altitude of about 4,800 metres, with many roads blocked by rockfalls, and snow is forecast in the coming hours, according to Al Jazeera's correspondent in Beijing. State media footage showed residents leaving their homes to shelter outdoors or in parked cars.

Earthquakes are relatively common in China, and Al Jazeera described this as the strongest to hit the country since January 2024. The memory of worse disasters is fresh: in January 2025, at least 126 people were killed by an earthquake in Tibet's rural Tingri county, France 24 reported.

Officials say they are still evaluating the damage. The next updates to watch are Xinhua's revised casualty figures and whether rescue teams can reach Baqen county's outlying villages before forecast snow closes in.