Tibet earthquake death toll rises to 18, CCTV says

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck a remote, high-altitude part of northern Tibet at 10:33 p.m. local time on Thursday, Oct. 22, killing at least 16 people and collapsing at least 339 homes in Nagqu, according to the Associated Press, which cited Chinese official media. Later updates put the toll higher. Bloomberg, citing state broadcaster CCTV, reported 18 dead and 32 injured, 11 of them seriously, via The Straits Times. The AP put the number of injured at 54, citing official media. The quake is the strongest to hit China since January 2024, Reuters reported.apnews.com+2

Damage and rescue efforts

The epicentre was in Maru township in Baqen County, where the deputy township head said the township office's walls cracked, CNA reported, citing Xinhua. Besides the homes, 20 livestock sheds collapsed. More than 1,600 people from the county have been deployed to search and rescue, and about 1,000 prefabricated housing units and roughly 3,000 tents have arrived, according to the AP. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all-out rescue and medical relief efforts.channelnewsasia.com+1

Power has been cut, and rockfalls have blocked roads, making it harder for crews to reach the affected areas, the BBC reported. Xinhua said communications were down in part of the region and trains through the area had been stopped. A section of National Highway 317 is now open only to emergency vehicles, and intermittent snow is expected over the next three days, the AP reported.apnews.com+1

Reports differ on the level of emergency response. The China Earthquake Administration activated a Level II response, Euronews reported. Separately, Xinhua said the Ministry of Emergency Management launched a Level IV national response and sent a working group to the area, according to Bloomberg.straitstimes.com+1

A remote, quake-prone plateau

The U.S. Geological Survey placed the epicentre 191 kilometres east-northeast of Nagqu city, at a depth of 18 kilometres, in a sparsely populated area, the AP reported. The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the depth at 10 kilometres. It said the average elevation within 5 kilometres of the epicentre is about 4,864 metres, and it recorded a string of magnitude 3 and 4 aftershocks, Reuters reported. A magnitude 5.2 aftershock followed, Bloomberg reported. CCTV called it the strongest earthquake in the region in five years.reuters.com+2

The USGS counts 29 earthquakes above magnitude 7.0 on and around the Tibetan Plateau since 1900. The strongest was a magnitude 8.6 quake in 1950 that killed more than 4,000 people. In 2010, a magnitude 7.1 quake struck Yushu in neighbouring Qinghai province and killed at least 2,698 people, according to Reuters.reuters.com

Foreign media access to Tibet is limited, so information about the disaster comes mostly from Chinese state media, the BBC noted.bbc.com