16 dead, dozens injured in Tibet earthquake

Updated / Friday, 23 Oct 2026 02:35

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake has killed at least 16 people and injured dozens of others in Tibet, according to Chinese state media.

The earthquake struck yesterday evening local time.

Local rescue teams were immediately dispatched to Baqeng County in Xizang's Nagqu City.

An advance team from the Baqeng County Fire and Rescue Brigade, made up of eight personnel and two vehicles, rescued one trapped survivor.

The Xizang Fire and Rescue Corps deployed 347 rescue personnel, 82 fire vehicles and 15 search-and-rescue dogs, along with more than 4,200 pieces of equipment and over 9,400 logistical support items, to the quake zone.

Officials were still evaluating the damage, and disaster relief work was ongoing, state news agency Xinhua said.

China Central Television (CCTV) put the number of injured at 46, 11 of them seriously, citing local officials.

Videos posted by CCTV showed workers running out of restaurants and objects falling off shelves at supermarkets when the quake struck.

The epicentre was located in a mountainous area about 190km east-northeast of Nagqu, and 390km northeast of the regional capital Lhasa, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake struck at a shallow depth of around 10km.

Power and telecoms services were disrupted, according to Xinhua.

Earthquakes are relatively common in the region.

In January 2025, at least 126 people were killed in an earthquake in Tibet's rural Tingri county.

In December 2023, a quake in remote Gansu province in northwest China killed at least 127 people, according to state media.

That quake was China's deadliest since 2014, when more than 600 people died in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

A huge tremor in 2008 in Sichuan province left some 90,000 people dead or missing, including around 5,000 schoolchildren.