Magnitude 7 Earthquake Hits Tibet, China's Strongest Since 2024

A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Tibet’s Nagqu region Thursday night, the strongest to hit China since January 2024.

The quake hit at 10:33 p.m. local time, the China Earthquake Networks Center said. That was 10:33 a.m. Eastern on Thursday. The U.S. Geological Survey, which measured the quake at magnitude 7.0, put the epicenter about 183 kilometers east-northeast of the city of Nagqu.

The epicenter was in a high-altitude county roughly 400 kilometers from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, according to China’s seismic agency. It listed the depth at 10 kilometers. Shallow quakes tend to shake harder near the surface. The average elevation within five kilometers of the epicenter is about 4,864 meters.

The quake was clearly felt in the local area, the agency said. The USGS had no felt reports from the ground in the first hour after the quake.

At least 16 people were killed and dozens were injured, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Thursday afternoon. The extent of the damage was still being assessed.

At least 339 houses have collapsed, Xinhua said. Railway authorities suspended train services through the affected areas, according to state broadcaster CCTV. A rescue team was dispatched to the epicenter.

China’s earthquake administration activated a level II emergency response, its second-highest tier, broadcaster CGTN reported. Videos released by local media showed people leaving their homes as the quake struck, Reuters reported.

Early reports had listed only two injuries. The toll rose as rescue teams reached the most remote high-altitude villages.

The last quake this strong in China came in January 2024. In 2010, a magnitude 7.1 quake struck Yushu, about 280 kilometers from Thursday’s epicenter in neighboring Qinghai province. That quake killed at least 2,698 people and left nearly 300 missing.