Magnitude 7 Earthquake Strikes Tibet, Killing at Least 16

BEIJING: A powerful magnitude 7 earthquake struck the Tibet region of China on Thursday, killing at least 16 people and injuring dozens more, according to Chinese state media.

The United States Geological Survey placed the epicenter about 183 kilometres east northeast of the city of Nagqu. State news agency Xinhua reported that at least 339 houses collapsed, with the full extent of the damage still being assessed.

A rescue team has been sent to the affected area, and railway authorities suspended train services through the region as a precaution. The China Earthquake Administration activated a level two emergency response, its second highest tier.

Local media footage showed residents leaving their homes as the shaking began. The average elevation within five kilometres of the epicenter exceeds 4,800 metres, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

China sits in a seismically active part of the world, where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates collide to form the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau. Thursday’s quake comes roughly two months after a glacier collapse and landslide on the edge of the plateau triggered catastrophic flooding that killed at least 1,300 people.