USGS pins magnitude-7 quake 119 miles from Nagqu as 339 homes collapse

Aftershocks continue to rattle northern Tibet, where a magnitude-7 earthquake struck at 10:33 pm local time on Thursday. The US Geological Survey placed the epicenter 119 miles east-north-east of the city of Nagqu, at a depth of 11 miles. Chinese official media reported that the tremor killed at least 16 people and injured 54 others.

The Nagqu media office, citing city government data, stated that 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed. Search and rescue operations remained active as crews worked through damaged structures. CCTV footage showed goods falling from supermarket shelves and workers fleeing restaurants. Rescuers were filmed climbing through buildings with compromised roofs.

Relief efforts involve more than 1,600 local county personnel. Xinhua reported that over 300 police officers and nearly 350 regional fire and rescue workers were dispatched to the site. Logistics teams delivered 1,000 prefabricated housing units, roughly 3,000 tents, folding beds, torches, and winter clothing to the affected areas.

Infrastructure damage has disrupted movement in the region. Communications failed in parts of the disaster zone, prompting railway authorities to halt train traffic. Rockfalls closed a section of National Highway 317, limiting passage to emergency and support vehicles while crews cleared debris. Forecasters predict intermittent snow for the next three days, complicating rescue work in the cold.

President Xi Jinping called for an all-out effort in rescue and medical relief. The USGS logged at least seven aftershocks ranging in magnitude from 4.3 to 5.2, each occurring at a depth of 6 miles. CCTV described the event as the largest quake in the region in five years.

Nagqu sits more than 185 miles north of Lhasa. Earthquakes occur regularly in China. In January 2025, a quake in Tingri county killed at least 126 people. A December 2023 tremor in Gansu province killed at least 134, marking the deadliest event in the country since 2014, when more than 600 people died in Yunnan province.