Injuries in China's Tibet rise to 76 after earthquake, death toll remains at 16

President Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz express deep grief, sorrow over loss of lives in earthquake

The number of people injured in a magnitude 7 earthquake that struck China's southwestern region of Tibet has risen to 76, local government authorities said at a press conference on Friday, while the death toll remained unchanged at 16.

The quake, with an epicentre in Nagqu, a high-altitude city in northern Tibet, a sparsely populated region of China, is the strongest to hit the country since January 2024.

Homes that developed cracks or began leaning during the main earthquake may be at risk of collapse during aftershocks, although communication and power supplies are gradually being restored, local officials said during the press conference.

More than 300 police officers, including traffic and community police personnel, were sent to the epicentre to carry out rescue and emergency relief work, the Nagqu police department said in a separate post on the messaging app WeChat earlier on Friday.

Officers sent to the region checked homes for damage and helped people relocate to safer locations, the Nagqu police also said in the WeChat post.

A video the police posted on Douyin, TikTok's sister app, showed officers packing supplies into a truck in the dark and inspecting a building and rubble with flashlights.

More than 12,000 people have been safely relocated, state media outlet Xinhua reported.

Videos previously released by local official media showed people leaving their homes and seeking shelter outside or in cars parked on the street. One resident reported being awakened by the strong quake and hearing the house squeaking during the tremor.

Read: Hundreds missing after devastating flood hits Nepal-Tibet border, 95 bodies recovered

'Significant casualties'

President Xi Jinping said the tremor caused "significant casualties" and took place at a "high-altitude location" in cold weather.

"(We) must go all-out to carry out search and rescue operations and do our utmost to treat the injured, so as to minimise casualties," Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

He called for assistance for residents and rescue equipment to be sent to the area promptly.

The epicentre was in a mountainous area about 190 kilometres (120 miles) east-northeast of Nagqu, and 390 kilometres northeast of the regional capital Lhasa, the US Geological Survey said.

It struck at 10:33 pm (1433 GMT) on Thursday at a shallow depth of around 10 kilometres.

Lhawang Dagpo, a local official in the Maru township, the quake's epicentre, said it put cracks in the walls of his office, according to Xinhua.

Power and telecoms services were disrupted in the county seat, the agency said.

Baqing County has mobilised more than 1,600 people to help in the relief operation, CCTV reported.

The municipal fire and rescue brigade has dispatched 25 vehicles and 110 personnel, and the Nagqu Armed Police Detachment sent 225 officers and soldiers and 18 vehicles, CCTV said.

As of 4:30 am on Thursday, relief supplies including 1,000 prefabricated houses, 3,239 tents, four generators and 1,000 flashlights had been delivered, it added.

Earthquakes in China are relatively common.

In January 2025, a quake in Tibet's rural Tingri county killed at least 126 people.

The disaster came little over a year after at least 148 people died in a quake in remote Gansu province in northwest China in December 2023, according to state media.

That quake was China's deadliest since 2014, when more than 600 people perished in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

A massive tremor in 2008 in Sichuan province left about 90,000 people dead or missing, including around thousands of schoolchildren.

 

President Asif Ali Zardari has expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives in the earthquake in China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, extending heartfelt condolences to President Xi Jinping, the bereaved families and the people of China. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s solidarity with…

— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) October 23, 2026

The prime minister said Pakistan stood in solidarity with its Chinese brothers and sisters in that difficult time and was ready to extend every possible support.

Deeply saddened by the tragic loss of precious lives and injuries caused by the devastating earthquake in Nagqu, Xizang Autonomous Region of China.

On behalf of the Government and people of Pakistan, I extend our heartfelt condolences to President Xi Jinping, and our Chinese…

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) October 23, 2026