Tibet Quake Kills 16 in Nagqu as Hundreds of Homes Collapse

Sixteen people died and 46 others sustained injuries when a magnitude 7 earthquake struck China's Tibet region on Thursday evening, according to official media reports. The seismic event, which registered at a depth of 18 kilometers, was centered 191 kilometers east-northeast of the city of Nagqu. It occurred at 10:33 p.m. local time in a sparsely populated, high-altitude area.

The most severe structural damage occurred in and around Nagqu, a regional hub located more than 300 kilometers north of Lhasa. The Nagqu media office, citing city government officials, confirmed that at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed. Among the 46 injured, 11 required serious medical attention, while the other 35 suffered minor wounds. Search and rescue teams remain active in the affected zones.

Over 1,600 personnel from the local county have been deployed to assist in rescue efforts. Relief logistics have begun to flow into the region, delivering 1,000 prefabricated housing units, approximately 3,000 tents and folding beds, flashlights, and winter clothing to those displaced by the disaster.

China's state news agency Xinhua reported that communication networks went down in portions of the area on Friday. Local railway authorities halted train traffic through the zone as a precaution. The earthquake also triggered rockfalls that forced officials to close a segment of National Highway 317. Currently, only emergency, rescue, and official support vehicles are permitted to pass while crews remove debris.

Weather conditions pose additional challenges to ongoing recovery work. Xinhua indicated that intermittent snow is forecast for the quake zone over the next three days. CCTV, the national broadcaster, identified this as the strongest earthquake to hit the region in the last five years.