Strong 7-magnitude earthquake strikes Tibet weeks after deadly flash floods

A strong earthquake of magnitude 7 struck Tibet in southwestern China late Thursday, with tremors reported across the area around the epicentre. The China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) recorded the quake at 10:33 pm local time. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The quake struck Nagqu in northern Tibet, where the epicentre was located about 10 km below the surface. The surrounding terrain is extremely high, with an average elevation of around 4,864 metres within a 5-km radius, according to CENC data.

The epicentre lies roughly 400 km from Lhasa, Tibet’s capital. CENC described the tremor as the strongest earthquake to hit China since January 2024.

The quake has brought back memories of a devastating earthquake in the region in 2010. A magnitude 7.1 tremor struck Yushu, in neighbouring Qinghai province, around 280 km away from the latest epicentre. The disaster killed at least 2,698 people, while nearly 300 others remained missing.

The earthquake comes weeks after flash floods and landslides devastated areas along the Nepal-China border on August 26, leaving more than 1,400 people dead and thousands missing, according to updated figures.

The disaster followed the collapse of a glacier near the border between Nepal and China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, triggering landslides and flash floods that tore through valleys downstream and caused widespread destruction.

Search and rescue efforts continued in the weeks after the disaster, with more than 6,000 people still reported missing in the affected areas.

There was no immediate information on casualties or damage from Thursday’s earthquake, and further details on its impact were awaited.