Tibet earthquake injury toll rises to 76 as deaths remain at 16

Nagqu, China. Local authorities told a Friday press briefing that injuries from the magnitude 7 earthquake in Tibet had reached 76, while the number killed remained at 16.

Damaged homes face aftershock risk

The earthquake was centred in Nagqu, a high-altitude city in northern Tibet. The sparsely inhabited region lies in southwestern China, and the tremor was the country’s most powerful since January 2024.

Officials at the briefing warned that houses left cracked or leaning by the initial earthquake could collapse in subsequent tremors. They said electricity and communications were being restored gradually.

The China Earthquake Networks Center reported in a post that it had registered 413 aftershocks.

Police support rescue and relocation

In a separate WeChat post earlier on Friday, Nagqu police said they had deployed over 300 officers to the epicentre for rescue operations and emergency assistance. The deployment included personnel from traffic and community policing units.

The department said officers assessed damage to houses and assisted residents in moving somewhere safer. Footage it shared on Douyin, TikTok’s sister app, showed officers loading a truck with supplies after dark, then using flashlights to examine a building and rubble.

State news outlet Xinhua reported that over 12,000 people had been moved to safety.

Earlier footage from local official media showed residents coming out of their houses to shelter outdoors or inside cars parked along the street. One resident said the powerful shaking had woken them and that they heard their house squeaking as it shook.

Earlier earthquake in neighbouring Qinghai

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Yushu in the neighbouring province of Qinghai in 2010. It killed no fewer than 2,698 people, with almost 300 others left missing.