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 in press conference on Friday, while the death count 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 messaging app WeChat earlier on Friday.
Officers sent to the region checked for damage to homes and helped people relocate to safer locations, the Nagqu police also said in the WeChat post.
A video the police posted on TikTok sister app Douyin showed officers packing supplies in 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 their cars parked on the street. One resident reported being awakened by the strong quake and hearing the house squeaking during the tremor.
The China Earthquake Networks Center said in a post that 413 aftershocks had been recorded.
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.
Housing assessments carried out by emergency teams covered 37,210 people, according to the preliminary report from the National Emergency Operations Center. The epicenter was 39 kilometers northwest of Tonosí, in Los Santos province, at a depth of four kilometers.
RELATED: Venezuela Sends 40 Tons of Humanitarian Aid to Panama After Earthquake
The assessment identified impacts in 10 provinces — especially Coclé, Herrera, Veraguas and Los Santos — and the Ngäbe Buglé comarca, the report said.
Local authorities continued damage assessments and assistance to affected families amid recovery efforts after one of the strongest seismic events recorded in the country in decades. Humanitarian aid has also been received from other nations, mainly Venezuela, Costa Rica and the United States, the report said.
Venezuela extiende su solidaridad
— Ministerio de Comunicación e Información (@mippci_ven) October 22, 2026
Desde el Aeropuerto Internacional Simón Bolívar de Maiquetía, el Gobierno Bolivariano envió un cargamento de ayuda humanitaria hasta el Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen.
Estos insumos están destinados a brindar apoyo oportuno al pueblo… pic.twitter.com/SbscKqU958
Panama has opened 126 active shelters housing 5,628 people as part of the humanitarian response. Logistically, 171,190 pounds of cargo were moved by air and 365 tons were dispatched by land transport to support assistance operations.
Most of the country’s water treatment plants have restored operations, while security and emergency agencies maintain monitoring in affected areas, Sinaproc reported.
The earthquake occurred at 12:56 local time on October 9, according to the report. The United States Geological Survey raised the magnitude from 7.6 to 7.7, while the Institute of Geosciences of the University of Panama put it at 7.5.
Seismological monitoring placed the epicenter 202 kilometers north of Nagqu prefecture-level city in the Tibet Region, at a depth of ten kilometers.
The shallow focus amplified the tremor’s destructive force, sending shock waves across the autonomous region and into border areas of neighboring countries.
RELATED: China Evacuates Tibet Residents Amid Risk of Flood Lake Breach
The quake’s reach extended well beyond China’s borders, underscoring the scale of the event in a mountainous zone near the Himalaya range. Residents across the Himalayan chain felt the shaking, with alerts reported among populations in India, Myanmar and Nepal.
Rescue brigades and Chinese government agencies deployed immediately to the ground. Teams began assessing possible damage to infrastructure and attending to communities near the epicenter, where access routes and basic services could have been compromised.
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Baqen County of Nagqu City in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, at 10:33 p.m. Thursday (Beijing Time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC). #XinhuaNews pic.twitter.com/ewln8dGEvn
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) October 22, 2026
Local authorities are conducting technical inspections in the Nagqu area, a settlement of about 30,000 inhabitants, and in Lhasa, the second-closest locality to the quake’s center. Emergency crews are checking the network of basic services and road structures in rural counties to rule out major damage from possible landslides.
China’s natural disaster response committees remain deployed as a preventive measure to coordinate logistical assistance and protect families living in zones of high seismic risk.
That response now leans on infrastructure the country has spent years building. In July, China consolidated the deployment of the world’s most extensive earthquake early warning system, a scientific network capable of issuing real-time alerts within seconds of detecting the first seismic movements.
The mechanism exploits a basic principle of physics, radio waves travel faster than seismic waves. That gap allows notifications to be triggered from magnitudes as low as 1.0, buying precious minutes for people to seek protection before the shaking arrives. The system covers more than 90% of the key risk areas across Chinese territory and generates intensity reports within minutes. Officials describe it as essential technical support for decision-making in rescue operations.
🇨🇳 A 7.0-magnitude earthquake in China's remote Tibet region has killed at least 16 people and injured dozens more, state media reports, with hundreds of houses collapsed. pic.twitter.com/IAH9IzVSHh
— Political Pen (@politicalpen_) October 22, 2026
Emergency management institutions maintain permanent monitoring in the most vulnerable areas, linking cutting-edge research with direct operational response to natural disasters.
The quake arrives against a backdrop of recent tragedy in the region. A flood in Nepal and Tibet left at least 1,143 people dead and the mountainous terrain now faces a new emergency demanding the same mobilization of rescue resources.
With the preliminary toll still being updated, the priority has shifted to reaching remote settlements where landslides may have cut roads and interrupted communications. The full extent of the damage will depend on how quickly those rural counties can be reached and assessed.
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