Wire reporting: (AP, via CBS News)

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck China's Tibet Autonomous Region late Thursday, the China Earthquake Networks Center said, with later official tallies citing deaths and injuries in the northern city of Nagqu^{1,2,4,6,7,8,9,11,12,14,22,24,25}.

CENC timed the shock at about 10:33 p.m. local time (1433 GMT) in Baqen County, Nagqu, at a reported depth of about 10 kilometers^{2,3,5,7,8,9,12}. Coordinates were given as 32.40 degrees north and 93.79 degrees east^3,5. France 24, citing the U.S. Geological Survey, placed the epicenter about 190 kilometers east-northeast of Nagqu and 390 kilometers northeast of Lhasa⁷. BBC said the county is about 400 kilometers northeast of Lhasa¹². A later Associated Press dispatch carried by The Philadelphia Inquirer and Local 10, citing USGS, put the epicenter 191 kilometers east-northeast of Nagqu at a depth of 18 kilometers^11,22,25. A CNN brief carried by KSL, citing USGS, timed the quake at 10:30 p.m. local time and placed the epicenter 183 kilometers east-northeast of Nagqu, saying damage was then unclear¹⁰. ABC News Australia described the epicenter as a sparsely populated, high-altitude county in Nagqu⁹.

Associated Press reporting carried by CBS News, ABC stations, and an earlier Inquirer wire said official media, citing a city government, reported at least 16 people killed and 32 injured, and hundreds of homes collapsed in Nagqu^1,4,13,14,20. A later AP update carried by The Philadelphia Inquirer and Local 10 said official media reported at least 16 killed and 46 injured, with 11 in serious condition and 35 with minor injuries, and that at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed^11,22,25. South China Morning Post, France 24, Al Jazeera, ABC, BBC, and VnExpress International, citing Xinhua and local authorities, reported 16 killed and 32 injured; SCMP, France 24, and BBC said more than 300 houses collapsed^{6,7,8,9,12,23}. Al Jazeera said Xinhua attributed the casualty figures to Nagqu City's emergency management bureau⁸. An Al Jazeera video said several surveillance clips showed the moment of the quake and that at least 16 people were killed²⁴. An earlier CNA account, based on state television, said at least two people were injured near the epicenter and some nearby houses showed cracks².

China's earthquake administration activated a Level-II emergency response, Euronews and France 24 reported, and a Nagqu fire-rescue unit sent an advance team of seven firefighters^3,7. The later AP dispatch said more than 1,600 people from the local county were deployed, and that 1,000 prefabricated housing units, about 3,000 tents and folding beds, flashlights and winter clothing had arrived^11,22,25. France 24, citing Xinhua, said the epicenter was in Maru township, that power and telecoms were disrupted in the county seat, and that the township office had wall cracks⁷. BBC said power in the region had been mostly cut off and that rockfall forced roads to close¹². The later AP piece, citing Xinhua, said communication was down in part of the region, trains were halted, a section of National Highway 317 was closed after rockfalls except for emergency vehicles, and intermittent snow was expected over the next three days¹¹. CNA and ABC said the event was China's strongest earthquake since January 2024; CNA also reported aftershocks of about magnitude 3 and 4^2,9. CCTV, via AP, called it the biggest earthquake in the region in five years^11,14,22,25. VnExpress, citing Xinhua, also recalled that in January 2025 at least 126 people were killed in an earthquake in Tibet's Tingri county²³. Village checks for further damage and casualties were still under way^{3,6,7,11,12,23}.