A magnitude 7 earthquake shakes Chinese Tibet and leaves at least 16 dead and hundreds of houses destroyed

BarcelonaA magnitude 7 earthquake has shaken the Chinese region of Tibet and has caused at least 16 deaths, 76 injuries and has collapsed 339 homes in the city of Nagqu, in the north of the region, according to official media reports. 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 flashlights and winter clothing. It 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 22:33 local time, with the epicenter located at a depth of 18 kilometers and 191 kilometers east-northeast of Nagqu, in a sparsely populated, high-altitude area of northern Tibet. According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, at least 413 aftershocks have been recorded. Seven of these, with magnitudes between 4.3 and 5.2, were all at a depth of 10 kilometers. Security camera videos show workers running out of restaurants and objects falling from supermarket shelves at the time of the earthquake.

Local officials warn of houses and buildings that suffered cracks and tilting during the main earthquake and that could collapse if there are more aftershocks. They also explain that communications and electricity supplies are being gradually restored after the phenomenon interrupted them in some areas. Local railway authorities have adopted emergency measures to stop the movement of trains passing through the region. At this time, more than 300 police officers are working at the epicenter of the earthquake to carry out rescue and emergency aid efforts together with the regional fire department, which has mobilized nearly 350 personnel. Police are verifying damage to homes and helping the population move to safer places: in total, 12,000 people have already been mobilized, according to the official Chinese agency Xinhua.

"As if hundreds of yaks were passing by"

The conditions for rescue operations are especially difficult. The altitude in the area closest to 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 survivors of the earthquake have explained to local media how they managed to escape amidst the panic. In statements to the Tibet Daily newspaper, Yixi Cuomu, a resident of Nagqu, explained that she was sleeping in her house when it started to shake violently. Realizing it was an earthquake, she went out into the street barefoot, "with her legs trembling". Another witness explained that the shaking was so violent "that it felt as if hundreds of yaks were running past us". Many residents have chosen to spend the night in sub-zero temperatures, taking shelter in tents or inside cars, for fear that new aftershocks would leave them trapped inside the buildings.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for every possible effort to be directed toward 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.