A magnitude-۷ earthquake has hit China’s Tibet region, killing at least ۱۶ people, injuring ۵۴ and collapsing hundreds of homes in the northern regional city of Nagqu, official media said.
Search and rescue efforts continued after the collapse of at least ۳۳۹ homes and ۲۰ livestock sheds, the Nagqu media office said, citing city government officials.
More than ۱,۶۰۰ people from the local county were deployed for rescue efforts. Supplies including ۱,۰۰۰ prefabricated housing units and about ۳,۰۰۰ tents and folding beds as well as torches and winter clothing arrived in the region.
The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred at ۱۰.۳۳pm local time on Thursday, with its epicentre ۱۹۱km (۱۱۹ miles) east-northeast of Nagqu, in a sparsely populated, high-altitude area of northern Tibet. It put the earthquake’s depth at ۱۸km.
The US agency recorded at least seven aftershocks with magnitude between ۴.۳ and ۵.۲, all of them with a depth of ۱۰km, according to its website.
Videos posted by China’s national broadcaster CCTV said showed workers running out of restaurants and objects falling off shelves at supermarkets when the quake struck.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said on Friday that communication in some areas hit by the quake was down. Local railway authorities had taken emergency actions to halt trains passing through the region.
More than ۳۰۰ police officers had been dispatched for relief work while the regional fire and rescue corps has mobilised almost ۳۵۰ personnel to the affected areas, Xinhua reported.
Rescue workers clambered through damaged buildings, some with collapsed roofs, footage on CCTV showed.
The earthquake also caused rockfalls that had forced local authorities to close a section of national highway ۳۱۷, allowing only emergency, rescue and official support vehicles through as crews worked to clear debris, according to Xinhua.
Intermittent snows were expected in the quake region over the next three days, Xinhua said. It was the biggest quake in the region in the past five years, CCTV said.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, called for all-out efforts in rescue operations and medical relief work.
Nagqu is more than ۳۰۰km north of Tibet’s capital, Lhasa.
Earthquakes are relatively common in China. In January ۲۰۲۵, at least ۱۲۶ people were killed in one in Tibet’s rural Tingri county.
In December ۲۰۲۳, a quake in remote Gansu province in north-west China killed at least ۱۳۴ people, state media said. That quake was China’s deadliest since ۲۰۱۴, when more than ۶۰۰ people died in the south-western province of Yunnan.
A huge tremor in Sichuan province in ۲۰۰۸ left approximately ۹۰,۰۰۰ people dead or missing, including about ۵,۰۰۰ schoolchildren.
With Agence France-Presse
