China orders ‘all-out’ rescue after Tibet quake kills 16

BEIJING – A strong earthquake has killed at least 16 people and injured 46 in China’s remote Tibet region, Chinese state media has said, citing local authorities.

More than 300 houses collapsed in the 7.0 magnitude quake, which struck on Thursday at 10:33 p.m.

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, with 339 houses collapsed or damaged, 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 epicenter was located in a mountainous area about 190 kilometers east-northeast of Nagqu, and 390 km northeast of the regional capital Lhasa, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

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

A level-III earthquake disaster emergency response was activated in the area, CCTV reported.

The epicenter was in Maru township in Baqen county. Township deputy head Lhawang Dagpo said the quake was clearly felt at the township office, which sustained cracks in the walls, according to Xinhua.

Power and telecoms services were disrupted in the county seat, the agency said.

More than 300 police officers have been dispatched for relief work while the regional fire and rescue corps has mobilized 347 personnel to affected areas, Xinhua reported.

Rescue workers clambered through damaged buildings, some with collapsed roofs, and carrying one person, footage on CCTV showed.

It also showed rescue workers shining flashlights on other damaged buildings and soldiers lining up ready to be deployed.

Emergency services personnel at a damaged building in Nagqu, in a still image from video released Friday | NAGQU POLICE DEPARTMENT / VIA REUTERS

Earthquakes in China are relatively common.

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.