M7.0 Earthquake Strikes Tibet, Damaging Homes in Baqen County

A magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck 191 kilometers east-northeast of Nagqu, in China's Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, at 10:33 p.m. China Standard Time on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 (14:33 UTC), the U.S. Geological Survey said. The agency put the quake's depth at 18 kilometers.

USGS estimated that about 41,900 people were in the zone of shaking it rates "strong" on its intensity scale (MMI VI), and about 3,700 in the zone it rates "very strong" (MMI VII). The agency said the region's buildings are vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though resistant structures also exist, with adobe block and unreinforced brick-and-mud construction the predominant vulnerable types.

China News Service, citing CCTV News, reported that the earthquake had killed 16 people and injured 46, 11 of them seriously. The outlet said 339 households had their homes collapsed or damaged, and 20 livestock pens were damaged.