(TibetanReview.net, Oct23’26) – A devastating earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale has hit northern Tibet’s Nagchu (Chinese: Naqu) City in the night of Oct 22, killing at least 16 people and injuring 76 others, some of them seriously, while over 300 buildings have been destroyed or severely damaged and over 12,000 residents evacuated, according to latest Chinese state media reports.
The epicentre was Marru Township, located in the sparsely populated, high-altitude Drachen (Baqên) county, located 183 kilometres (about 114 miles) East-Northeast of Nagchu city proper and about 400km northeast of Tibet’s capital Lhasa. The quake occurred at 10:33 pm at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). The average elevation within 5 km of the epicentre is about 4,864 metres (15,960 feet), China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) data showed.
At least 339 houses have collapsed and the extent of the damage was still being assessed, according to Xinhua.
The death toll has remained fixed at the initially reported figure of 16 while the number of those injured has kept increasing from the initially reported 32 and now stands at 76. Of them, 11 were stated to be in serious condition while 43 had reportedly sustained minor injuries.
As of 10 am Oct 23, a total of 12,489 residents have been evacuated while rescue and relief efforts, and the resettlement of affected residents, were underway, reported Xinhua Oct 23.
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Another Xinhua report said the State Council earthquake relief headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management had upgraded the national earthquake emergency response from Level IV (the lowest) to Level III, citing the latter. However, a scmp.com report Oct 23 cited a Xinhua report as claiming level-II emergency response was activated in the area immediately after the earthquake.
President Xi jinping was reported to have issued instructions Oct 23 morning urging all efforts to be focused on search and rescue for survivors and treating the injured
Also, Premier Li Qiang was reported to have instructed the Ministry of Emergency Management and the China Earthquake Administration to continue monitoring the region for any aftershocks.
Meanwhile, passenger trains on the quake-hit section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway resumed service at reduced speed on Oct 23 morning, China Railway Qinghai-Tibet Group Co., Ltd. has said.
Also, State Grid Tibet Electric Power Co., Ltd. Has said that as of 10 am, power had been restored to 1,937 households in the quake-hit area of Drachen County.
China has reportedly allocated 50 million yuan (about $7.5 million) in emergency disaster relief funds and earmarked another 30 million yuan for recovery efforts.
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The China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC) has said that as of Oct 23 morning, it had recorded 413 aftershocks in the region, with the biggest measuring magnitude 4.3.
The Tibetan Plateau is prone to powerful earthquakes because it lies in a region where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collide.
A CENS analyst has told People’s Daily that the Drachen earthquake was the result of pressure on the Tibetan plateau caused by the continuing collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, calling it an extensional rupture, as reported by chinadaily.com.cn Oct 23.
“An extensional fracture, in simple terms, occurs when the crust is stretched horizontally and, under tension and gravity, faultage slides downward along existing faultage, forming fractures and rupture surfaces,” Han Yanyan, a senior engineer with the earthquake prediction department of the CENC, has said.