Tibet earthquake: 16 dead, 65 injured, 12,000 moved to safety after magnitude 7.0 quake in Nagqu

Update, Friday 23 October 2026, 1pm PKT: the number injured has risen to 65, while the death toll stays at 16, a local government post said on Friday, Reuters reported (carried by ARY News). Xinhua says more than 12,000 people have been moved to safety, and the China Earthquake Networks Centre has recorded 413 aftershocks. More than 300 police officers have been sent to the epicentre to check homes and help families relocate; residents spent the night outdoors or in parked cars.

For scale: the magnitude 7.1 Yushu earthquake in neighbouring Qinghai in 2010 killed at least 2,698 people. Nagqu is high and thinly populated, which has kept the toll far lower.

Earlier update, Friday morning: at least 16 people have died and 54 were injured in the Tibet earthquake, Chinese state media said, CBS News reported with the Associated Press. The Nagqu city media office said at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed. More than 1,600 people from the county have been sent to help, and 1,000 prefabricated housing units, about 3,000 tents and folding beds and winter clothing have arrived. State broadcaster CCTV called it the region's biggest earthquake in five years. The US Geological Survey put the epicentre about 190 km (119 miles) east-northeast of Nagqu town.

First report, 22 October: A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Nagqu in northern Tibet on Thursday 22 October at about 10:33pm local time (7:33pm Pakistan time, 1433 GMT), the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC) said, The Express Tribune reported It is the strongest earthquake to hit China since January 2024.

Where it hit and how deep

At 10 km the quake was shallow, which is why it was clearly felt locally even in a thinly populated area. Videos from the region showed people leaving their homes and sitting out the shaking in open ground or in parked cars. Smaller aftershocks of around magnitude 3 and 4 followed in the surrounding areas.

Damage

The first reports on Thursday night spoke of two people injured and cracked houses near the epicentre. By Friday morning Pakistan time the toll had risen to at least 16 dead and 54 injured, with hundreds of homes destroyed, according to Chinese state media cited by CBS News. Night-time quakes in remote, high-altitude areas are often under-counted at first, and this story will be updated if the figures change.

For comparison, a magnitude 7.1 quake in Yushu, in neighbouring Qinghai, killed at least 2,698 people in 2010.

Was it felt in Pakistan?

There are no reports of the quake being felt in Pakistan, and none from Nepal or India in the first reports. Nagqu is well over 1,000 km from Gilgit-Baltistan. Pakistan sits on the same collision zone between the Indian and Eurasian plates that builds the Himalaya and the Tibetan plateau, which is why large quakes in the region make news here; the most recent one we covered at home was the magnitude 5.9 quake near Khuzdar on 17 October.

What to do in an earthquake

• Drop, cover and hold on under a sturdy table until the shaking stops; stay away from windows and outside walls.
• Do not run for the stairs or a lift while the building is shaking.
• After the shaking, check for gas leaks before lighting anything, and expect aftershocks.
• In Pakistan, Rescue 1122 handles emergencies in every province, and the Pakistan Meteorological Department posts quake readings on its site.