Magnitude-7 earthquake in Tibet kills at least 16

A magnitude-7 earthquake struck the Tibet region of China late on Thursday, 22 October, killing at least 16 people, The Guardian reported. The US Geological Survey (USGS), the American agency that monitors earthquakes, said the quake occurred at 10:33pm local time.

The USGS placed the epicentre, the point on the surface above where the quake began, 191km east-north-east of Nagqu, a northern city in Tibet. Nagqu is more than 300km north of Tibet's capital, Lhasa. The agency put the depth of the quake at 18km below the surface.

At least 339 homes collapsed, according to The Guardian, and 20 livestock sheds, the structures where farm animals are kept, also fell. The number of injured rose to 65, Yahoo News reported. Rockfalls closed a section of National Highway 317 to all but emergency vehicles. In some areas hit by the quake, communications were down, and local railway authorities halted trains passing through the region.

More than 1,600 people from the local county were deployed for rescue work. More than 300 police officers were dispatched for relief efforts, and the regional fire and rescue corps mobilised almost 350 personnel to the affected areas. Relief supplies have also reached the region: 1,000 prefabricated housing units, which are factory-built homes assembled on site, and about 3,000 tents and folding beds.

Chinese president Xi Jinping called for an all-out effort in the rescue operation and in medical relief work. A level II emergency response, a graded alert under China's emergency system, was activated after the quake, according to KSL.

Aftershocks, which are smaller quakes that follow a larger one, have continued. The USGS recorded at least seven, with magnitudes between 4.3 and 5.2, all at a depth of 10km.