Tibet earthquake kills 16 and injures 32

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck a mountainous part of Tibet on Thursday night, killing at least 16 people, injuring 32 and collapsing more than 300 homes, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.

The quake hit at 10:33 p.m. local time, or 1433 GMT. Xinhua, citing Nagqu City’s emergency management bureau, reported that 11 of the injured were in serious condition and 21 had minor injuries. A level-II earthquake disaster emergency response was activated in the area, the agency said.

The U.S. Geological Survey placed the epicenter about 190 kilometers, or 119 miles, east-northeast of Nagqu, in a sparsely populated, high-altitude area of northern Tibet. Al Jazeera reported that the site was about 390 kilometers northeast of Lhasa, the regional capital.

The USGS measured the earthquake’s depth at 11 miles. Xinhua, citing the China Earthquake Networks Center, gave a shallower depth of 6.2 miles.

Xinhua reported that more than 300 homes collapsed. It also said local authorities had found at least two injured people in a village near the epicenter and cracks in some houses in villages closest to it. Videos released by local official media showed people leaving their homes and taking shelter outdoors or in cars parked on the street, Al Jazeera reported.

China’s national broadcaster CCTV described the quake as the region’s biggest in five years, according to CBS News. Al Jazeera reported that it was the strongest earthquake to hit China since January 2024.

The earthquake followed devastating flash flooding less than two months earlier in a border region of Nepal and Tibet. The flooding killed hundreds of people and destroyed several communities, CBS News reported. Authorities said the floods were caused by the collapse of a glacier.