A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck a sparsely populated, high-altitude area of northern Tibet on Thursday evening, leaving at least 16 people dead and dozens more injured, local officials reported. The seismic shock hit at 10:33 p.m. local time, with its epicenter located roughly 119 miles east-northeast of Nagqu, a city situated more than 186 miles north of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.
Search and rescue operations were quickly launched across the affected county following widespread structural damage. According to city government figures released through the Nagqu media office, at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed during the quake. The tremor left 54 people injured, including 11 who suffered serious injuries and 35 who sustained minor harm.
More than 1,600 rescue personnel from the local county were mobilized to assist affected residents. Emergency relief shipments arrived in the area, delivering winter clothing, flashlights, 1,000 prefabricated housing units, and approximately 3,000 tents and folding beds to shelter displaced community members.
China's national broadcaster CCTV noted that Thursday's tremor was the strongest earthquake recorded in the region over the past five years. Seismologists reported differing estimates on the depth of the quake, with the United States Geological Survey recording it at 11 miles, while Xinhua reported a depth of 6.2 miles based on data from the China Earthquake Networks Center.
The destructive earthquake comes less than two months after a separate tragedy hit the border region between Tibet and Nepal. In that event, severe flash flooding triggered by a glacier collapse killed hundreds of people and wiped out multiple communities.
At least 16 people were killed and 54 people were injured in the earthquake, Chinese state media said.
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