At 22:33 on October 22, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Baqen County, Nagqu City, Xizang. So far, it has caused 16 deaths and 76 injuries.

This is the largest earthquake to hit China so far this year. The average elevation within 5 kilometers of the epicenter is about 4,864 meters. In this compound disaster—characterized by a high magnitude, a shallow epicenter,high altitude, cold conditions, and oxygen deficiency—why weren't the casualties as "severe as imagined"? Officials and experts told the Xizang Daily reporter that such an outcome was dueto both objective factors and conscious efforts.

"The first factor is the natural objective condition of sparse population in the core epicentral area, which greatly reduced the risk of mass casualties," said Yang Chengye, associate professor at the College of Engineering of Xizang University, who has long been engaged in geological research.

Baqen County is vast and sparsely populated. Maru and Gangqie townships, located in the core epicentral area, cover a total area of about 2,200 square kilometers and have a combined permanent population of more than 13,000, averaging fewer than 6 people per square kilometer. There are no densely populated, contiguous settlements there.

When the earthquake struck, it was during the transhumance, and many residents were not staying in collapsed houses. "In early October, most herding households had, as usual, gradually moved from southern pastures to northern pastures. In Gangqie Township, this involved more than 2,000 people, most of whom were living in tents or temporary simple shelters, so the risk of being buried in collapses was relatively low. This fundamentally reduced the possibility of mass deaths and injuries," analyzed Basang, deputy head of Gangqie Township.

"Before the earthquake, most houses here had already been seismically strengthened, which also weakened the impact of the disaster to some extent," introduced Jiangjiu, Party secretary and director of the Baqen County Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau.

Yang Zenghong, deputy head of Maru Township, said that there are almost no high-rise buildings in the pastoral area, so the time needed to run from indoors to outdoors is very short. In addition, because the quake occurred after 10 p.m. and taking the time difference into account, the vast majority of residents had not yet gone to sleep and were more alert. These objective conditions left residents a precious window to escape.

For years, local authorities have repeatedly conducted earthquake evacuation drills at schools and other venues. From grassroots officials to ordinary herders, people are relatively familiar with earthquake safety knowledge, further reducing the probability of secondary injuries.

Local officials and residents carried out timely self-rescue, and rescue forces from all sides arrived quickly. All the injured received standardized treatment in the shortest possible time, and severely injured patients were transferred overnight to Lhasa for treatment and pulled through. These timely and effective rescue measures prevented injuries from worsening. Within hours after the quake, more than 5,000 rescue personnel had gathered in the quake zone to carry out rescue work.

"Thank goodness the village officials and rescue teams came quickly, otherwise my mother would havedied," recalled Bazha, a villager from Village 3 of Maru Township. His mother, 80 years old, was injured in the quake and was sent to hospital overnight for effective treatment.

It is precisely the combination of objective factors—the sparse population at the epicenter, herders' early transhumance, low-rise and strengthened houses, and residents still awake when the quake struck—as well asproactive measures such as rapid rescue, timely treatment, and routine emergency drills that made the relatively low casualties in the Baqen 7.0-magnitude earthquake possible.