A powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the high-altitude mountains of northern Tibet late on Thursday night, catching residents in their homes and leaving a trail of destruction. The tremor hit at 10:33 pm local time (14:33 GMT) in Maru township within Baqen county, part of the remote prefecture-level city of Nagqu.

The disaster has claimed at least 16 lives. Injury counts released by official Chinese media differ slightly, with regional authorities reporting 54 people injured, while China Central Television (CCTV) reported 46 wounded, 11 of them seriously.

The ground shook violently. Videos broadcast on state television showed panicked diners dashing out of restaurants and supermarket goods tumbling from shelves. Describing the immediate impact, Maru township deputy head Lhawang Dagpo said the quake was clearly felt at the township office, which sustained cracks across its walls.

 

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) placed the epicentre roughly 190 to 191 kilometres east-northeast of Nagqu, in a rugged, sparsely populated region. Nagqu itself lies more than 300 kilometres north—and about 390 kilometres northeast—of Tibet's regional capital, Lhasa. While the USGS recorded the quake at a depth of 18 kilometres, other official assessments described a shallow depth of around 10 kilometres. State broadcaster CCTV noted that it is the strongest earthquake to strike the area in five years.

Rubble, snapped lines, and blocked highways

The tremor tore through village infrastructure, flattening or damaging at least 339 homes along with 20 livestock shelters. Officials are still trying to assess the total scale of destruction.

The disaster immediately severed vital lifelines. Electricity and telephone networks collapsed in the county seat, and communications broke down across several parts of the region.

Landslides and tumbling rocks forced authorities to shut a stretch of National Highway 317. Road maintenance teams are currently clearing boulders, and only ambulances, rescue teams, and official vehicles are permitted to pass. At the same time, regional railway operators suspended trains running through the area to avoid derailments.

Rescuers race against freezing weather

A massive emergency operation is now underway after authorities triggered a level-III disaster response. More than 1,600 local county residents have joined rescue teams on the ground. They are backed by 347 specialist personnel from the regional fire and rescue corps, as well as more than 300 police officers dispatched to the disaster zone.

Television broadcasts showed soldiers lining up for deployment, while rescue teams clambered across collapsed roofs and through ruined brickwork, carrying an injured person to safety and shining torches into damaged homes.

Crucial relief materials have reached the plateau, including 1,000 prefabricated shelter units, around 3,000 emergency tents, folding beds, winter clothing, and hand-held torches. The aid is urgently needed. Chinese meteorological officials have warned that intermittent snowfall will hit the quake zone over the next three days, threatening to freeze water supplies and hamper outdoor searches.

A fragile plateau prone to deadly quakes

Earthquakes are a frequent occurrence across China's mountainous western and southwestern belts.

Just last year, in January 2025, a deadly earthquake hit Tibet's rural Tingri county, killing at least 126 people. In December 2023, another tremor in the northwestern province of Gansu claimed at least 127 lives. That disaster stood as China's deadliest since 2014, when a powerful quake in Yunnan province killed more than 600 people. The country's worst modern seismic tragedy occurred in May 2008 in Sichuan province, where an enormous earthquake left roughly 90,000 people dead or missing, including around 5,000 schoolchildren crushed inside collapsed classrooms.