Rescue efforts continue after deadly earthquake strikes Tibet

At least 16 people have died (Xinhua via AP)

At least 16 people have died and 54 others were injured after a magnitude 7 earthquake hit China’s Tibet region, collapsing hundreds of homes in the northern regional city of Nagqu.

Search and rescue efforts continued following the collapse of at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds, officials said.

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 US Geological Survey said the quake occurred at 10.33pm local time, with its epicentre 119 miles east-northeast of Nagqu, in a sparsely populated, high-altitude area of northern Tibet.

It put the earthquake’s depth at 11 miles.

The US agency recorded at least seven aftershocks with magnitude between 4.3 and 5.2, all of them with a depth of six miles, according to its website

China’s official news agency Xinhua said 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 186 miles north of Tibet’s capital, Lhasa.