China: Panic as 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocks Tibet

BREAKING: A 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck Baqen County in Nagqu, in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake has struck Tibet.

It hit Baqen County in Nagqu, in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, at 10.33 at night local time. That timing matters. People were home, many of them asleep, in a remote high-altitude region where buildings are not always built to take a shock like this.

The China Earthquake Networks Center confirmed the magnitude. Seven point zero is a major quake by any standard, and Nagqu sits on the Tibetan plateau, one of the most seismically active places on earth. Rescue teams face thin air, cold October nights, and long distances before they reach anyone.

We don't yet have casualty figures, and I won't guess at them. What we know is that a powerful quake hit a remote region in the dark, and the first hours after a shock like this are the ones that decide everything.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.