Nagqu mobilizes 1,600 workers after magnitude-7 quake kills 16

A magnitude-7 earthquake struck northern Tibet on Thursday night.

Chinese official media reported that at least 16 people died and 54 were injured in the tremor. The Nagqu media office, citing city government data, stated that 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed. Search and rescue operations remained active as of Friday. CCTV described the event as the strongest quake in the region in five years.

The US Geological Survey logged the tremor at 10:33 p.m. local time. The epicenter lay 119 miles east-northeast of Nagqu in a sparsely populated, high-altitude zone. The quake occurred at a depth of 11 miles. The agency recorded at least seven aftershocks, with magnitudes ranging from 4.3 to 5.2 and depths of 6 miles. CCTV footage showed workers exiting restaurants and goods falling from supermarket shelves during the shaking. Rescuers were seen climbing through structures with damaged roofs.

More than 1,600 personnel from the local county were deployed to assist with rescue efforts. Xinhua reported that over 300 police officers were sent for relief work. Regional fire and rescue services dispatched nearly 350 additional staff. Supplies delivered to the area included 1,000 prefabricated housing units, approximately 3,000 tents, folding beds, torches, and winter clothing.

Communications went down in some affected areas, according to Xinhua. Local railway authorities halted trains passing through the region as a precaution. Rockfalls closed a section of national highway 317. The road remained open only to emergency, rescue, and official support vehicles while crews cleared debris. Forecasters predicted intermittent snow for the next three days.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an all-out effort in rescue and medical relief. Nagqu sits more than 185 miles north of Lhasa, the regional capital. Earthquakes occur frequently in China. In January 2025, a quake in Tingri county killed at least 126 people. In December 2023, a tremor in Gansu province killed at least 134, making it the deadliest in China since 2014. In that 2014 event, more than 600 people died in Yunnan province.

Tibet is seismically active and was brought under Chinese control in the 1950s. The region remains one of China's poorest areas. In August, a flood hit the Tibet-Nepal border. Chinese information controls limited international media access to the Tibetan side of the border, obscuring the full scale of that damage.