Powerful earthquake in China’s Tibet region collapses hundreds of homes and kills at least 16 people

BEIJING (AP) — A magnitude 7 earthquake hit China’s Tibet region on Thursday evening, killing at least 16 people, injuring 54 and collapsing hundreds of homes in the northern regional city of Nagqu, official media said.

Search and rescue efforts continued following the collapse of at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds, the Nagqu media office said, citing city government officials.

More than 1,600 people from the local county were deployed for rescue efforts. Supplies including 1,000 prefabricated housing units, around 3,000 tents and folding beds, as well as flashlights and winter clothing arrived in the region.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred at 10:33 p.m. local time, with its epicenter 191 kilometers (119 miles) east-northeast of Nagqu, in a sparsely populated, high-altitude area of northern Tibet. It put the earthquake’s depth at 18 kilometers (11 miles).

The U.S. agency recorded at least seven aftershocks with magnitude between 4.3 and 5.2, all of them with a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) , according to its website

China’s official news agency Xinhua said on Friday that communication in some areas hit by the quake was down. Local railway authorities have taken emergency actions to halt trains passing through the region.

The earthquake also caused rockfalls that have forced local authorities to close a section of National Highway 317, allowing only emergency, rescue and official support vehicles through as crews worked to clear debris, according to Xinhua.

Intermittent snows are expected in the earthquake region over the next three days, Xinhua said.

It was the biggest earthquake in the region in the last five years, China’s national broadcaster CCTV said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts in rescue operations and medical relief work.

Nagqu is more than 300 kilometers (186 miles) north of Tibet’s capital, Lhasa.