The 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Baqing, Tibet has killed 16 people and injured 76 people. The press conference held a moment of silence for the victims. A quick overview of the latest rescue situation.

On October 22, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake occurred in Baqing County, Nagqu City, Tibet.

At 15:00 today (October 23), the Information Office of the Nagqu Municipal People's Government of Tibet held the first press conference for the 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Baqing County, Nagqu City, Tibet, to report on the earthquake disaster situation, search and rescue work, relocation and resettlement, infrastructure repairs, material supplies, medical treatment and other latest situations.

At the press conference, everyone stood up to mourn the compatriots who unfortunately died in the earthquake.

It was reported at the meeting that after preliminary verification, the earthquake had a high magnitude and a shallow epicenter. The earthquake was strongly felt in the core areas of the epicenter such as Maru Township and Gangqie Township in Baqing County. Some houses collapsed, power and communication facilities were damaged, and there were casualties. As of 13:00 on October 23, 16 people had been killed, 76 injured, 339 houses had collapsed or been damaged, and 20 livestock sheds had been damaged.

The earthquake area is sparsely populated, extremely cold and hypoxic, and rescue operations face many difficulties such as long distance transportation, weak communications, and urgent need to keep warm. Moreover, it is still a period of high incidence of aftershock risks and secondary disasters, and the relevant disaster situation will continue to be updated.

It was reported at the meeting that the frontline emergency command center has been established and put into operation, implementing unified dispatch, segmented responsibility, and simultaneous advancement. A total of more than 5,000 rescue forces have been deployed at the district, city, and county levels to organize operations according to tasks such as search and rescue, medical care, resettlement, and supply guarantees; power and communication support teams have entered the scene simultaneously, and rescue forces have been deployed in key towns and key disaster-stricken points.

The local area has launched 24-hour monitoring and emergency repairs of key areas such as mountains, reservoirs, power stations, rivers, dilapidated houses, and communication base stations. Damaged communications and power in the earthquake area are gradually being restored. Earthquake, meteorological, emergency and other departments hold ongoing discussions and issue aftershock and weather warnings in a timely manner. The public security and transportation departments have made every effort to ensure the smooth flow of "life channels" for rescue. They have inspected 12 roads covering more than 1,700 kilometers, 201 bridges, and 324 culverts. 11 hidden dangers have been discovered, and 7 rockfall sections have been cleared.