More than a dozen people were killed and hundreds of homes were destroyed when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck China’s Tibet region on Thursday afternoon local time, according to local officials. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake occurred at 10:33 p.m. local time, with its epicenter 119 miles east-northeast of Nagqu, in a sparsely populated high-altitude area of northern Tibet. At least 16 people were killed and 46 injured in the earthquake, Chinese state media said. Search and rescue efforts continued after the collapse of at least 339 houses and 20 livestock sheds, the Nagqu media office said, citing city government officials. Among the injured, 11 people were in serious condition and the other 35 suffered minor injuries, the press office said. More than 1,600 people from the local county were deployed for rescue efforts. Supplies including 1,000 prefabricated housing units, around 3,000 tents and folding beds, as well as flashlights and winter clothing, arrived in the region. It was the largest earthquake to hit the region in the past five years, Chinese national broadcaster CCTV said. Nagqu is more than 300 kilometers north of Tibet’s capital, Lhasa. The Chinese region of Tibet that was hit by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on October 22, 2026. The US Geological Survey (USGS) estimated the depth of the earthquake at 11 miles. Xinhua, citing the China Seismic Network Center, estimated the depth at 6.2 miles. The earthquake comes less than two months after a border region between Nepal and Tibet was hit by devastating flash floods that left hundreds dead and destroyed several communities. Authorities said the flooding was caused by a collapsing glacier. More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press in:
