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Magnitude 7.0 earthquake in northern Tibet kills at least 16 and collapses 339 homes; snow may hamper rescue
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck a high, sparsely populated part of northern Tibet on Thursday night, killing at least 16 people, injuring 54 and collapsing 339 homes. Rescuers are working in the cold, and snow is forecast for the next three days.
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A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck northern Tibet at 10:33 pm local time on Thursday, 22 October, killing at least 16 people and injuring 54, Chinese state media said. At least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed. The quake was centred in a sparsely populated, high-altitude area, and snow is forecast across the region for the next three days, which will make the rescue harder.
The time of the quake was 14:33 UTC, or about 8:03 pm in India. According to the US Geological Survey, the epicentre was about 191 km east-north-east of Nagqu, and the depth was about 18 km. China's earthquake network gave a shallower depth of about 10 km. The damage was reported in and around Baqen County in Nagqu City. The area lies several hundred kilometres north of Lhasa, the Tibetan capital: reports put the distance at more than 300 km or about 400 km. The ground within 5 km of the epicentre averages about 4,864 metres above sea level.
The toll
The Nagqu media office said 54 people were injured, of whom 11 were in serious condition and 35 had minor injuries. At least 339 homes collapsed, and the figure may rise as teams reach remote settlements. China Central Television called it the most powerful earthquake in the region in five years, and one report describes it as the strongest to hit China since January 2024.
The US Geological Survey recorded at least seven aftershocks, with magnitudes from 4.3 to 5.2, and China's earthquake network noted smaller tremors of about magnitude 3 and 4 in surrounding areas. Videos from the area showed residents who ran out of their homes and sheltered outdoors or in parked cars. One resident said the quake woke them and that they could hear their house creaking.
The rescue
President Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts in rescue and medical relief. More than 1,600 people from the local county were deployed for search and rescue, and police and emergency crews were putting up tents to shelter people who had lost their homes. Supplies sent to the region include 1,000 prefabricated housing units, about 3,000 tents and folding beds, flashlights and winter clothing.
The damage to transport and communications has complicated the work. Rockfalls closed a section of National Highway 317 to everything except emergency, rescue and official vehicles while crews cleared the debris. Local railway authorities halted train services through the affected area as a precaution, and the news agency Xinhua reported that communications had been cut in some affected areas. Intermittent snow is forecast for the next three days.
Tibet and the neighbouring province of Qinghai have seen deadly quakes before. In January 2025 an earthquake in Tibet's rural Tingri County killed at least 126 people. In 2010 a magnitude 7.1 quake at Yushu in Qinghai killed at least 2,698 and left nearly 300 missing. The latest quake also comes less than two months after flash flooding in the Nepal-Tibet border region killed hundreds of people, which authorities blamed on a glacier collapse. In January 2025 a quake in Tibet's rural Tingri County killed at least 126 people, and in 2010 a magnitude 7.1 quake at Yushu in Qinghai killed at least 2,698.
The earthquake was among the most searched topics in India, particularly in Kannada, on Friday. The reports available do not say that the shaking was felt in India or Nepal, and no damage has been reported outside the affected area of Tibet.
The count of the dead and missing in remote settlements is likely to be revised in the next two days. The first challenge is to reach the places where homes have collapsed, and the second is to keep displaced families warm at night, with winter conditions at this altitude and snow in the forecast.
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