A magnitude 7 earthquake shakes Chinese Tibet and leaves at least 16 dead and hundreds of houses destroyed
The rescue tasks continue in the north of the region after the earthquake, which has had seven aftershocks
BarcelonaA magnitude 7 earthquake has shaken the Chinese region of Tibet, causing at least 16 deaths, 65 injuries, and the collapse of 339 homes in the city of Nagqu, in the north of the region, official media report. More than 1,600 people from the affected district have mobilized to participate in rescue efforts. Emergency supplies have been sent, including 1,000 prefabricated houses, about 3,000 tents and folding beds, as well as lanterns and winter clothing. This is the strongest earthquake recorded in the region in the last five years.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred on Thursday at 10:33 PM local time, with the epicenter located 191 kilometers east-northeast of Nagqu, in a sparsely populated, high-altitude area of northern Tibet. The epicenter was located at a depth of 18 kilometers. At least seven aftershocks with magnitudes ranging between 4.3 and 5.2 have been recorded, all at a depth of 10 kilometers. Security camera footage shows workers running out of restaurants and objects falling from supermarket shelves at the moment of the earthquake.
"As if hundreds of yaks were passing by"
The conditions for rescue tasks are especially difficult. The altitude in the area of the epicenter is about 4,800 meters. It is a high mountain territory, with villages scattered in steep valleys, where nighttime temperatures have dropped below zero degrees.
Several earthquake survivors have explained to local media how they managed to flee the quake amidst the panic. In statements to the newspaper Tibet Daily, Yixi Cuomu, a resident of Nagqu, explained that she was sleeping in her home when it began to shake violently. Upon realizing it was an earthquake, she went out into the street barefoot, "with her legs shaking." Another witness explained that the shaking was so violent "that it seemed as if hundreds of yaks were running past us." Many residents chose to spend the night in sub-zero temperatures, sheltered in tents or inside cars, for fear that new aftershocks would leave them trapped inside the buildings.
The official Chinese agency Xinhua reported this Friday that communications have been interrupted in some of the areas affected by the quake. Local railway authorities have adopted emergency measures to stop the movement of trains crossing the region. According to Xinhua, more than 300 police officers have been deployed to participate in assistance tasks, while the regional fire and rescue corps has mobilized nearly 350 personnel to the affected areas.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for all possible efforts to be directed towards rescue operations and medical assistance. Nagqu is located more than 300 kilometers north of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.
Earthquakes are relatively frequent in China. In January 2025, an earthquake caused at least 126 deaths in the rural Tibetan district of Tingri. In December 2023, an earthquake in the remote province of Gansu, in northwestern China, caused at least 134 deaths. It was the deadliest earthquake recorded in the country since 2014, when more than 600 people died in the southwestern province of Yunnan. A powerful earthquake in Sichuan province in 2008 left nearly 90,000 dead or missing, including about 5,000 students.
