Symbolic imageRescuers search Tibetan villages after magnitude 7 quake kills 16
A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Nagqu in northern Tibet late on Thursday, killing at least 16 people. Hundreds of homes collapsed in the remote, high-altitude area.
The quake struck at 10:33 pm local time on Thursday, 22 October, with its epicentre 191 km east-northeast of Nagqu according to the US Geological Survey. Chinese state media report 339 collapsed homes, and Xinhua says more than 12,000 residents were relocated. Injury counts differ: 54 in the Guardian and Global Times, 65 in Reuters, 76 in Daily Sabah. Acting mayor Dunzhu said rescuers had completed three rounds of searches by Friday afternoon, and Xi Jinping called for an all-out rescue effort.
Snow, rockfalls and aftershocks
Rockfalls closed part of national highway 317 to all but emergency traffic, and communications were down in some areas, Xinhua reported. Intermittent snow is forecast for three days. The US agency recorded seven aftershocks of magnitude 4.3 to 5.2; China's Earthquake Networks Center counted 413.
Relief deployed
Daily Sabah reports that more than 5,000 people from three counties joined the response, with 2,000 prefabricated housing units and about 3,400 tents sent in.
Other opinions
Global Times, using the name Xizang, stresses the all-out rescue; the Guardian recalls that China's information controls kept international media from Tibetan flood areas in August.