A 7.0 earthquake ripped through a remote corner of Tibet. At least 16 people are dead.

A magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck a remote, high-altitude stretch of Tibet late Thursday night, killing at least 16 people and injuring 76, according to a Nagqu municipal government assessment reported Friday. Hundreds of homes collapsed in the sparsely populated region around Baqen County.

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the quake at 10:33 p.m. local time Thursday, placing the epicentre about 191 kilometres east-northeast of the city of Nagqu at a depth of 18 kilometres, while China's earthquake agency measured a shallower 10 kilometres in Baqen County, according to The Watchers. Both agencies flagged it as a powerful, shallow event — the kind that does the most damage.

Homes belonging to 339 households collapsed or were damaged, and more than 12,000 residents had been relocated by Friday morning, the Nagqu assessment said. Over 1,600 county personnel were deployed to the relief effort, joined by more than 300 police officers, 350 national fire-and-rescue personnel and 262 members of the People's Armed Police.

China's Ministry of Emergency Management raised the national earthquake response from Level IV to Level III and sent a working group to the area, according to state media. President Xi Jinping called for an all-out rescue and relief effort, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The Guardian reported that 1,000 prefabricated housing units, about 3,000 tents and folding beds, torches and winter clothing had arrived in the region.

Rescue conditions are brutal. The epicentre region sits at roughly 4,800 metres above sea level, with intermittent snow forecast. CCTV reported rockfalls closed part of National Highway 317 to ordinary traffic, communications were down in some affected areas, and railway authorities halted trains through the region as a precaution, according to CrispNG's roundup of the official updates.

China's earthquake networks center recorded hundreds of aftershocks, with the USGS counting at least seven between magnitude 4.3 and 5.2, the People's Daily reported.

It is the strongest earthquake to hit the region in five years, CCTV said, and Reuters called it the strongest to hit China since January 2024. The plateau sits over the collision zone of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates; in January 2025 a quake in Tibet's Tingri county killed at least 126 people, according to the Discovery Wire's roundup.

Canadians in western China who need assistance can contact Global Affairs Canada's 24/7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre. The government also urges travellers to register through its Registration of Canadians Abroad program so officials can reach them in an emergency.