Fresh 5.3-magnitude quake strikes China's Qinghai after devastating Tibet tremor

The latest seismic event struck Zadoi County in northwest Qinghai at 4:39 pm Beijing time, with its epicentre located at a depth of 10 kilometres, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC). The quake's epicentre was positioned at 32.54 degrees north latitude and 93.97 degrees east longitude. No casualties or damage have been immediately reported from Saturday's earthquake.

The tremor comes just 48 hours after a more powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Baqen County in the Nagqu city area of Tibet Autonomous Region on Thursday evening. That earlier quake has claimed 16 lives and left 76 people injured, with rescue and relief operations still underway across the affected region. Authorities have so far evacuated 12,489 residents from the impacted areas.

The Tibetan Plateau remains one of Asia's most seismically active regions due to its unique geological setting. The plateau lies at the convergence zone where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collide, creating continuous and often intense seismic activity. Scientists attribute the frequency of powerful earthquakes in this region to the ongoing collision between these major tectonic plates, which generates significant crustal stress and deformation.