Tibet Earthquake Injuries Rise to 65 as Death Toll Holds at 16 After Magnitude 7 Quake
Rescue crews search collapsed homes in northern Tibet as snow is forecast, with more than 12,000 people moved to safety and communications cut in some areas.
Emergency services personnel at a damaged building following an earthquake, at a location given as Nagqu, Tibet Autonomous Region, China in this still image from video released October 23, 2026. Nagqu Police Department/Handout via REUTERS.
The number of people injured in the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck Tibet has risen to 65, local authorities said on Friday, while the death toll remained unchanged at 16. Rescue teams continued searching damaged buildings and relocating residents as officials assessed the full extent of the damage in the remote, high-altitude region.
The magnitude 7 quake struck on Thursday at 10:33 p.m. local time. Its epicenter was 191 kilometers east-northeast of Nagqu, a sparsely populated, high-altitude city in northern Tibet. The United States Geological Survey put the depth at 18 kilometers and said it was the strongest earthquake to hit China since January 2024.
Nagqu’s media office said at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed. Search and rescue teams are still working through damaged buildings, and some of them have caved-in roofs.
The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that more than 12,000 people have been moved to safety. Authorities sent supplies to the area, including 1,000 prefabricated housing units, about 3,000 tents and folding beds, torches and winter clothing.
More than 300 police officers, including traffic and community police, were dispatched to the epicentre to carry out rescue and relief operations. The regional fire and rescue corps also deployed nearly 350 personnel, while more than 1,600 people from the local county joined the overall response.
Videos released by local officials and state media showed residents leaving their homes, with some gathering outside and others taking shelter in cars parked along the streets. Footage from national broadcaster CCTV showed restaurant workers rushing outside as the ground shook, while items fell from supermarket shelves.
The aftershocks have continued since the main earthquake. China’s Earthquake Networks Center has recorded 413 aftershocks, while the United States Geological Survey logged at least seven with magnitudes ranging from 4.3 to 5.2.
Communications have been disrupted in some of the worst-affected areas, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency. Local railway authorities responded by taking emergency measures and halting train services passing through the region to protect passengers and allow crews to inspect the tracks for damage.
Rockfalls triggered by the earthquake forced authorities to close part of National Highway 317, a key route through the affected area. The road has been restricted to emergency, rescue and official support vehicles while crews work to clear fallen rocks and debris and restore safe access.
President Xi Jinping has called for all-out efforts in rescue operations and medical relief, urging officials to prioritise the safety of residents, the smooth delivery of aid and ensure that injured people receive prompt medical treatment.
The weather adds to the pressure. Nagqu lies more than 300 kilometers north of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and intermittent snow is forecast across the quake zone for the next three days. Displaced residents and rescue teams are both at risk. The death toll stayed at 16 on Friday even as injuries rise with each new count.
Earthquakes are fairly common in China, and several have been far deadlier. In January 2025, at least 126 people died in a quake in Tingri county, a rural part of Tibet. In December 2023, an earthquake in Gansu province killed at least 134 people, the deadliest in China since 2014, when more than 600 people died in Yunnan province.
The 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province remains one of the worst natural disasters in China’s history. The magnitude 7.9 quake struck densely populated areas of the southwestern province, destroying homes, schools and infrastructure across a wide region.
It left about 90,000 people dead or missing, including some 5,000 schoolchildren who were killed when school buildings collapsed. The disaster triggered one of the largest relief operations in China’s history and led to widespread scrutiny of construction standards, particularly for public buildings such as schools.
