An earthquake of magnitude 7 struck China’s southwestern region of Tibet at around 10:33 p.m. (1433 GMT) on Thursday, killing 16 people and injuring 32 others, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing Nagqu City’s emergency management bureau.
As of 2:25 a.m. on Friday, 11 of the injured were in serious condition while 21 sustained minor injuries, Xinhua reported.
Local authorities have found at least two people injured in a village near the epicentre, with some houses in villages closest to the epicentre showing cracks, the state broadcaster said. The quake is the strongest to hit China since January 2024.
The epicentre was in a sparsely populated, high-altitude county in Nagqu, northern Tibet, at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). The average elevation within 5 km of the epicentre is about 4,864 metres (15,960 feet), China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) data showed.
Videos released by local officially run media showed people leaving their homes and seeking shelter outside or in their cars parked on the street. One resident reported being awakened by the strong quake and heard the house squeaking in the tremor.
The quake was clearly felt in the local area, CENC said. The epicentre was around 400 km from the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
Local fire and rescue teams have mobilised and are heading to the affected region, state media said.
A string of smaller tremors of around magnitude 3 and 4 have been recorded in surrounding regions following the magnitude 7 quake, CENC data showed.
In 2010, a magnitude 7.1 tremor struck Yushu in neighbouring Qinghai province, killing at least 2,698 people and leaving nearly 300 people missing.