Magnitude 7.0 Quake Strikes Northern Tibet at Night
A powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck China’s Tibet region late on Thursday night, killing at least 16 people and injuring dozens more. The quake hit at around 10:33pm local time on October 22, with its epicentre in Baqên County in the Nagqu region of northern Tibet.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the epicentre lay about 191 kilometres east-northeast of Nagqu city, in a sparsely populated, high-altitude area of the Tibetan plateau. China’s earthquake monitoring centre measured the depth at about 10 kilometres, while the USGS put it at 18 kilometres — either way, a shallow quake, the kind that causes the most damage at the surface.
The tremor was felt strongly across Nagqu and in the cities of Qamdo and Nyingchi, and was even reported in parts of Lhasa, the regional capital more than 300 kilometres away, as well as neighbouring Qinghai province. State media footage showed residents rushing out of restaurants and homes into the streets as buildings shook, with objects falling off shelves in shops.
Death Toll and Injuries: What We Know So Far
Chinese state media, citing the Nagqu emergency management bureau, confirmed at least 16 deaths. The number of injured rose to 65 by Friday morning, with 11 people reported to be in serious condition. Officials warned the casualty figures could change as rescue teams reach more remote villages.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for all-out efforts in rescue operations and medical relief work, state media reported. Emergency teams were still searching through damaged buildings on Friday, with some rescuers clambering through structures with collapsed roofs.
Hundreds of Homes Destroyed in Nagqu
The destruction on the ground is extensive. At least 339 homes collapsed and 20 livestock sheds were destroyed, according to the Nagqu media office. Power was cut off in the affected areas, and communications went down in some villages, making it harder to assess the full scale of the damage.
Rockfalls triggered by the quake forced authorities to close a section of National Highway 317, one of the main routes through the region, allowing only emergency and rescue vehicles through while crews work to clear the debris. Local railway authorities also halted trains passing through the area as a precaution, delaying services while tracks are inspected.
Massive Rescue Operation Underway
More than 1,600 personnel from the local county have been deployed for search and rescue, joined by nearly 350 members of the regional fire and rescue corps and over 300 police officers sent to the epicentre area. Officers have been checking damaged homes, helping residents move to safer locations, and distributing emergency supplies.
Relief materials rushed to the region include 1,000 prefabricated housing units, around 3,000 tents and folding beds, flashlights and winter clothing for displaced families. State media reported that more than 12,000 people have been moved to safer locations so far.
Rescue work faces serious challenges: the epicentre sits at an average elevation of nearly 4,900 metres, and intermittent snow is forecast in the region over the next three days, which could slow relief efforts. China’s earthquake centre has recorded hundreds of aftershocks, including at least seven measuring between magnitude 4.3 and 5.2, keeping nerves on edge.
Strongest Quake in the Region in Five Years
China’s national broadcaster CCTV described it as the strongest earthquake to hit the region in five years, and the most powerful to strike China since January 2024. The Tibetan plateau sits where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collide, making it one of the most seismically active zones on earth.
A Region No Stranger to Disaster
The Himalayan belt has seen repeated tragedy in recent years. Earlier this year, a 6.2-magnitude quake in neighbouring Gansu province killed more than 120 people, and just weeks ago, glacier-collapse floods and landslides devastated parts of Tibet and Nepal. For readers in Pakistan — itself no stranger to devastating quakes, from the 2005 Kashmir earthquake to more recent tremors in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — the images from Nagqu are a familiar and painful reminder of how quickly the ground can turn deadly.
Authorities say damage assessment is still underway, and the death toll may rise as teams reach cut-off villages. UrduPro will update this story as more information comes in.
Sources: International news agencies and official statements reported on October 23, 2026.
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