China's Information Crackdown on Earthquake in Tibet

November 2, 2026

HRRC condemns the suppression of information concerning any rescue efforts and human casualties in Tibet. We also urge the authorities to drop any charges against individuals who report on the situations. 

Figure 1: Scene after an earthquake. [Image Credit: Angelo Giordano/Pixabay]

On October 22, 2026, an earthquake of magnitude 7 struck the Nagqu Prefecture, the northern region of Tibet, that resulted in 16 deaths and 76 casualties. According to official reports, there have been a total of 2,054 aftershocks. Local authorities relocated 12,964 people and all 76 casualties had received medical treatment. 2,505 housing units were dispatched into affected areas. 

China’s Ministry of Natural Resources assessed the impact of the geological disaster on 80 glacier lakes and 145 glaciers within a 50 km radius of the epicenter. The ministry declared that the effects of this earthquake on a glacier-related secondary disaster remain minimal. 

However, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) revealed on its social media that the local public security bureau actively suppressed individual and local reports regarding the casualties. Local sources suggested that the actual death toll could be higher by referencing their immediate social circle. The TCHRD, a nonprofit group based in India and founded by a leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile, investigates human rights violations in Tibet. 

According to the TCHRD, local sources revealed that security protocols and disaster aids were immediately deployed into the Nagqu region. Local residents and volunteers were compelled to sign pledges before being permitted to enter disaster-affected areas, even to provide emergency aid. 

The Public Security Bureau officers of the Chinese communist party (Ccp) in Sog, Lhorong, and Chentsa counties of the Nagqu Prefecture have reportedly penalised residents and arrested more than ten Tibetans for discussing the earthquake and death tolls online. The authorities arrested them for alleged “rumour-mongering” and “spreading online rumours”.  

The TCHRD revealed in its social media that a young Tibetan woman was forced by the Lhorong County Public Security Bureau to record a confession video after she posted in WeChat, China’s dominant messaging app, that over 100 people died in the earthquake (see Figure 2). In the forced confession, she acknowledged her alleged crime of “spreading unverified rumors of 32 deaths from the earthquake”. Lastly, she urged the broader public to not spread any rumors online and that the cyber space is not a lawless place, indicating that the internet is patrolled by governing bodies.

Figure 2: Video released by the Public Security Bureau in Lhorong that one woman confessed in a video for speaking rumors. Source: screenshot from Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy

The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India, issued a statement extending its condolences to those affected by the earthquake and its aftermath. The CTA called on China to ensure transparency on publishing timely and accurate information regarding the casualties, damage, and relief efforts. The CTA also requested China to allow community-led assistance without political restrictions and to enable overseas Tibetan-organisations to support the affected communities. 

A cultural explanation of why China censors news of natural disasters  

China’s control and heavy censoring of the media of negative information can be attributed to its longtime power grip, the need to preserve an image of absolute competence and avoid widespread panic. 

However, a deeper dive into traditional Chinese customs reveals that the Mandate of Heaven could provide a better understanding. The Mandate of Heaven is an ancient philosophy used to legitimize the rule of emperors by claiming divine right to rule. According to the traditional customs, when natural disasters, such as famine or flood occurred continuously, heaven has withdrawn its favour of the emperor. In short, natural disasters undermined the emperor’s claim to the throne in ancient dynasties. 

In 2020, The Economist analyzed China’s control of the spread of information regarding natural disasters or unforeseeable events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It drew parallels of the Ccp’s need to portray absolute competence and connected anxieties about its leadership’s ability to the traditional belief of the Mandate of Heaven. 

In modern China, the party promotes Xi Jinping's leadership and wisdom in people’s everyday lives, including through schools and party members. The Ccp emphasizes, particularly through the rhetorical emphasis of Xi’s leadership, that he led China into  greater prosperity. At the same time, the Ccp’s propagandists view the Western elements of free press or democratic accountability as the sources of dysfunction and chaos. 

Therefore, censoring news regarding natural disasters echoes the traditional belief and draws historic parallels into legitimacy claims. 

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Glossary

• Censor: a person responsible for examining books, films, works of art, or communications, and deciding whether to prevent parts or the whole of them from being seen or made available to the public because they are considered to be offensive or harmful, or because they contain information that someone wishes to keep secret, often for political reasons

• Competence: the ability to do something well

• Condolences sympathy and sadness for the family or close friends of a person who has recently died, or an expression of this, especially in written form

• Divine: connected with a god, or like a dog

• Dysfunction: a problem or fault in a part of the body or a machine

• Dynasties: a series of rulers or leaders who are all from the same family, or a period when a country is ruled by them

• Mongering: the act of encouraging a particular activity, especially one that causes trouble 

• Mandate of Heaven: An ancient Chinese philosophical and political concept that suggests the emperor's right to rule is granted by a divine power known as Heaven.

• Pandemic: a disease that exists in almost all of an area or in almost all of a group of people, animals or plants

• Prefecture: a political region or local government area in some countries

• Protocols: the system of rules and acceptable behaviour used at official ceremonies and occasions

• Prosperity: the state of being successful and having a lot of money

• Propagandists: someone who creates or spreads propaganda

• Pledges: A serious or formal promise, especially one to give money or to be a friend, or something that you give as a sign that you will keep a promise

• Rhetorical: writing intended to seem important or influence people

• Suppression: the act of ending something by force 

• Transparency: the characteristic of being easy to see through

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References

1. https://www.facebook.com/tchrd/posts/following-the-nagchu-earthquake-public-security-bureau-offices-in-sog-lhorong-an/1561085842726423/ 

2. https://tibet.net/statement-devastating-earthquake-in-drachen-county-nagchu-tibet/

3. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/china-says-no-secondary-disasters-casualties-tibet-earthquake-2026-10-26/

4. https://www.economist.com/china/2020/01/30/xi-jinping-wants-to-be-both-feared-and-loved-by-chinas-people 

5. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/mandate-heaven