On the morning of the 7th, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Tibet (Xizang) region of China, resulting in significant casualties. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) announced that at around 9:05 am, the earthquake occurred in the Xizang region of China, 93 km northeast of Lobuche in the Himalayan mountainous region of Nepal. The China Earthquake Network also confirmed that a 6.8 magnitude earthquake had occurred in the city of Rikaze, Dingri County, Xizang, with a depth of 10 km.
Chinese state TV CCTV reported that tremors were clearly felt in Dingri County and nearby areas, with many homes collapsing near the epicenter. According to China’s Xinhua News Agency, there have been 53 deaths and 62 injuries reported so far. On Chinese social media Weibo, there were posts about preemptive earthquake warnings being issued in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and Kunming, Yunnan Province.
In Dingri County, the worst-hit area, buildings collapsed massively, leading to a surge in casualties. Videos on Douyin (China’s TikTok) showed soldiers rescuing residents trapped under debris in the devastated Dingri County. With temperatures dropping to minus eight degrees, there is an urgent need for relief efforts for the displaced residents. The high altitude of about 4,259 meters within a 5 km radius of the epicenter also complicates the delivery of external aid.
The earthquake has also temporarily closed climbing routes on Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak at 8,840 meters, as Dingri County is home to the Chinese base camp for the mountain.
Chinese President Xi Jinping issued disaster response instructions, stating the need to focus on rescuing residents and treating the injured to minimize casualties and prevent secondary damage. He emphasized swiftly restoring damaged infrastructure and ensuring the basic livelihoods of residents so they can safely and warmly get through the winter. The State Council Earthquake Response Command and Emergency Management Ministry have raised the national earthquake emergency response from tier 3 to tier 2, and the national disaster warning from tier 4 to tier 3.
Experts from the China Earthquake Network explained that such disasters are typical in the Tibetan Plateau due to periodic stress accumulation, but this event was the largest since 2017. The southern region of the Tibetan Plateau receives stress from both north-south and east-west directions, causing faults within the plateau to move and trigger earthquakes. Since 1950, the Tibetan Plateau has recorded 21 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or higher, with the largest being a magnitude of 6.9 in Milin, Xizang, in 2017.
CCTV reported that in the past five years, 29 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or higher have occurred within a radius of 200 km from the epicenter, with this being the largest. Typically, after a major earthquake, aftershocks are observed in adjacent areas, so the extent of the damage is likely to increase in Xizang over the next few days.
The earthquake in Xizang was also felt in neighboring Nepal, Bhutan, and India. The Nepal daily Kathmandu Post reported that the tremors affected some regions, including the capital Kathmandu. India’s Times of India mentioned that the earthquake was felt in India’s capital New Delhi, as well as in Bangladesh and Bhutan.