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Magnitude-7 earthquake hits China's Tibet region, killing 16 people

At 10:33 p.m. Local time on Thursday, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck China's southwestern region of Tibet, according to state news agency Xinhua and local officials. The powerful tremor hit the high-altitude county of Nagqu, leaving at least 16 people dead and collapsing hundreds of homes and livestock sheds. According to China's national broadcaster CCTV, the disaster is the largest earthquake to hit the region in five years.

The United States Geological Survey placed the earthquake's epicenter 191 kilometers east-northeast of Nagqu, at a depth of 18 kilometers. Meanwhile, Xinhua cited data from the China Earthquake Networks Center putting the depth at 10 kilometers. CENC data also recorded an average elevation of about 4,864 meters within five kilometers of the epicentre, located in a sparsely populated, mountainous area.

Media additions

Reports on total injuries varied across different official channels. Chinese state media and sources including Yahoo News, Al Jazeera, BNO News, ABC News, AP News, and 1News reported 32 injuries. Conversely, CBS News, Bay News 9, and WFMZ reported 46 injuries. The Nagqu media office, citing city government officials, specified that 11 of the injured were in serious condition. Reports on minor injuries also differed: the Nagqu media office stated via certain outlets that 35 people sustained minor injuries, while other reports cited 21 minor injuries.

City government officials confirmed that at least 339 homes collapsed in the disaster, alongside 20 livestock sheds. Videos released by local state media captured residents rushing out of buildings to seek shelter outside or inside parked cars, with one resident reporting being woken by the strong shaking and hearing their house squeaking.

Authorities launched a large-scale emergency response, activating a Level-II earthquake disaster emergency response. The Nagqu Battalion of the Lhasa Fire and Rescue Mobile Detachment dispatched an advance team of seven firefighters equipped with life-detection devices and specialist rescue gear. More than 1,600 personnel from the local county were deployed for rescue operations. Police and fire departments erected temporary tents to house displaced residents, while supplies including 1,000 prefabricated housing units, around 3,000 tents and folding beds, flashlights, and winter clothing arrived in the region.

The disaster disrupted transport and infrastructure across parts of the region. Xinhua reported that communication in part of the area went down following the tremor, and local railway authorities halted trains passing through the region. Rockfalls triggered by the earthquake forced local authorities to close a section of National Highway 317, restricting access strictly to emergency, rescue, and official support vehicles while crews worked to clear debris. CENC data noted a string of smaller tremors ranging from magnitude 3 to 4 in surrounding areas following the main shock.

The USGS noted that the earthquake resulted from normal faulting within the Tibetan Plateau as the crust stretches east to west, driven by the ongoing collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. USGS estimates indicated that about 111,000 people experienced moderate to severe shaking, including roughly 3,000 people in areas of severe shaking, 4,000 in very strong shaking, and 42,000 in strong shaking.

Looking ahead, rescue operations remain ongoing as emergency crews search for survivors, assess damage, and check villages near the epicentre. Xinhua reported that intermittent snows are expected in the earthquake region over the next three days, which could pose challenges for rescue teams and ongoing operations. Authorities continue to monitor aftershocks, assess communication infrastructure, and evaluate the structural integrity of roads and homes in the affected high-altitude communities.