China Earthquake Aftermath: 5.8 Magnitude Aftershock Injures 18 as Buildings Sway, Debris Falls, Power Fails

Chengdu, China— A magnitude 5.8 aftershock struck southwestern China Thursday afternoon, injuring 18 people and knocking down buildings already cracked by a deadly 7.0 quake that hit Tibet hours earlier.

The aftershock hit at 2:17 p.m. local time near the Sichuan-Tibet border, according to Xinhua News Agency, at a shallow depth that was felt strongly in Ganzi prefecture and as far away as Chengdu. In townships near the epicenter, walls that had held in the morning gave way. Roof tiles slid off. People ran.

Emergency management officials said most of the 18 injuries were from falling debris and panic while fleeing structures. Two were serious, with head injuries. The rest were treated at temporary medical points because the county hospital had been evacuated over structural cracks. No new deaths were reported, but the count complicated an already strained rescue effort.

"We were inside the temporary command tent when the ground jumped again," a rescue team leader told state media. "We ordered everyone out of any building. The hillside behind the village started to slide again."

That secondary slide was the immediate problem. The aftershock triggered at least six fresh landslides along the Sichuan-Tibet highway, a lifeline for relief trucks. Dashcam footage carried by state outlets showed dust clouds rising from ridges and boulders bouncing across the road. Crews that had cleared the road in the morning were back to square one.

The pattern is textbook, but brutal in practice. The main 7.0 quake loaded stress onto nearby faults. Seismologists said the 5.8 event was likely on a secondary fault, not the same rupture, and warned more aftershocks above magnitude 5 were probable in the next 72 hours. That forecast forced officials to shift from indoor shelters to open-field tent camps.

Beijing said power was cut again in three townships after the aftershock damaged a substation repaired earlier in the day. Water pipes burst. A telecom operator said fiber lines were severed by falling rock, cutting internet for rescue coordination.

By evening, local governments were urging residents not to re-enter homes, even those that appeared intact. Inspectors were going door to door with red and green tags, marking buildings as unsafe. More than 3,000 people were told to sleep outside in temperatures dropping to near zero.

Aftershock monitors were still recording activity past nightfall, with dozens of small tremors rattling the same zone.