Tibet Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 16, Rescue Ordered

• Suggested slug: tibet-earthquake-death-toll-16-rescue-xi-october-2026
• Category: World News
• Focus keyphrase: Tibet earthquake October 2026 death toll
• SEO title: Tibet Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 16, Rescue Ordered
• Meta description: A 7.0-magnitude quake struck Tibet’s Nagqu region on Thursday, killing 16 and injuring 65. Xi ordered an all-out rescue; Pakistan sent condolences.
• Tags: Tibet earthquake, China, Nagqu, Xi Jinping, Pakistan-China, natural disaster, earthquake, rescue
• Original element: genuine update — toll jumped from the 2 injured in our Oct 22 coverage to 16 dead and 65 injured, with Xi Jinping’s all-out rescue order; Pakistan angle: both President Zardari and PM Shehbaz publicly condoled with condolence posts, showing Pakistan-China solidarity
• Date: Friday, 2026-10-23

China ordered an “all-out” rescue effort in Tibet on Friday after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed at least 16 people, injured 65 and flattened more than 300 houses, state media reported.

The quake struck at 10:33 pm on Thursday (1433 GMT) at a shallow depth of around 10 kilometres, with the epicentre in a mountainous area about 190 kilometres east-northeast of Nagqu, and 390 kilometres northeast of the regional capital Lhasa, according to the US Geological Survey.

A night of terror for residents

Footage showed rescue workers with torches clambering in the dark through some of the more than 300 houses that collapsed. Diners ran out of restaurants and items fell off wobbling supermarket shelves as the tremor struck, according to clips on state broadcaster CCTV.

One resident told local media that her family had just gone to bed when her home shook, knocking over objects, and that they “rushed outside without even taking the time to get dressed.”

“My legs were shaking the entire time I was heading downstairs and by the time I reached the bottom, I was so terrified that I burst into tears,” the woman said. Local residents “are afraid to return to their homes,” she said. “They set up tents along the roadside or spent the night in their cars.”

A man told the Beijing News that the “very strong” quake left his home “creaking and rattling”. “I was asleep when it hit. Everyone has run outside now and is too afraid to go back in. I’m currently driving to an open area to sleep in my car,” he said.

Xi orders “all-out” rescue

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.

Baquin County has mobilised more than 1,600 people to help in the relief operation, CCTV reported. The municipal fire and rescue brigade dispatched 25 vehicles and 110 personnel, while the Nagqu Armed Police Detachment sent 225 officers and soldiers and 18 vehicles.

By 4:30 am on Friday, relief supplies including 1,000 prefabricated houses, 3,239 tents, four generators and 1,000 flashlights had been delivered. Power and telecoms services were disrupted in the county seat.

Update from first reports

The rising toll is a sharp escalation from the first reports on Thursday evening, when Feature Pakistan reported that two people were injured in what was the strongest earthquake to hit China since January 2024. The quake’s shallow depth in a remote, high-altitude region has complicated the rescue effort.

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 — China’s deadliest since 2014, when more than 600 people perished in Yunnan.

Pakistan’s leadership condoles

President Asif Ali Zardari expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives, extending condolences to Xi Jinping, the bereaved families and the people of China. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s solidarity with China.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan stood in solidarity with its Chinese brothers and sisters in that difficult time and was ready to extend every possible support.

Tibet is largely inaccessible to foreign journalists, and Chinese authorities are the only source of official information from the affected areas.