A magnitude-7.0 earthquake tore through a remote stretch of the Tibetan Plateau before dawn on Friday, killing at least 16 people, injuring dozens more and flattening hundreds of homes in one of the most seismically volatile regions on Earth.
The quake struck Baqên County in the Nagqu region shortly after nightfall on Thursday local time, according to Chinese state media, which cited the local emergency management bureau. The county sits roughly 400km (250 miles) northeast of Lhasa, the regional capital, at an altitude of about 4,800 metres (15,750ft).
Toll climbs as aftershocks multiply
By Friday morning, authorities said 65 people had been injured, 11 of them severely, and that 339 homes had collapsed. Power was cut across the affected area, though some supply had been restored by daybreak. Local media reported that more than 12,400 people had been relocated to safety, and officials said more than 400 aftershocks had been recorded since the main shock.
The US Geological Survey recorded seven tremors near the epicentre, the largest a magnitude-5.2 aftershock at a depth of 10km. Shallow quakes close to the surface tend to cause more damage than deeper ones, seismologists note, and rockfall triggered by the shaking has closed roads into the worst-hit high-altitude villages, slowing rescue crews.
Survivors described a terrifying night. One Nagqu resident, Yixi Cuomu, told the Tibet Daily she was asleep when her house began "shaking violently," forcing her outside barefoot with her "legs trembling uncontrollably." Another eyewitness said the ground moved as though "several hundred yaks were running past us." Many residents chose to sleep outdoors in tents or cars overnight in sub-zero temperatures rather than risk being trapped indoors by aftershocks.
Rescue effort mobilises at altitude
China's Premier Li Qiang called for "urgent efforts" to organise rescue and medical treatment and to relocate and resettle residents, according to state media, noting the difficulty of operating at such high altitude. The Ministry of Emergency Management dispatched a working group to the region, and the central government allocated 50 million yuan (£5.6m; $7.5m) in disaster relief funding. Drones have been deployed to help survey damage in areas that are difficult to reach by road.
The region has a grim recent history of seismic disaster. A 6.2-magnitude quake killed more than 120 people in the nearby Chinese province of Gansu in 2023, and a powerful earthquake struck Tibet's Shigatse region in January 2025, killing dozens. Less than two months ago, Tibet and neighbouring Nepal were devastated by floods and landslides triggered by a glacier collapse that killed at least 1,400 people, with hundreds still missing.
Despite the remoteness and altitude of the terrain, rescue teams on the Tibetan plateau are considered highly experienced. Military personnel, firefighters, police and specialist crews reached the Shigatse earthquake zone within hours in 2025, a precedent officials are hoping to repeat this time.
Information flow restricted
Tibet remains one of the most tightly controlled regions in China, with foreign media access restricted and independently verified information scarce. Chinese state media, including the official Xinhua news agency, remains the primary source for casualty figures and rescue updates as the disaster unfolds. Videos circulating on social media purportedly showing the moment the quake struck have not been independently verified.
Beijing's Tibet Autonomous Region, annexed by China in the 1950s, has long sought greater autonomy, a tension that has shaped how the outside world receives news from the plateau during emergencies. For now, the scale of the damage and the final death toll remain uncertain as rescue crews continue working through rubble in the thin mountain air.
