Magnitude 7 earthquake in Tibet leaves 16 dead, reports say

A magnitude seven earthquake has hit a mountainous region in Tibet, killing at least 16 people and injuring dozens of others, according to Chinese state media reports.

The centre of the quake hit Baqên County in the Nagqu region as on Thursday night, Xinhua reported, citing the local emergency management bureau.

The county - located in what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region after annexing it in the 1950s - is 400km north-east of the region's capital, Lhasa.

Authorities have declared an emergency and deployed rescue teams to the affected area, where 32 others have also been injured.

Power has been cut off and 339 homes have collapsed in the affected region, local reports said.

Rockfall has forced roads in the region to close, making it more difficult for crews to reach impacted high-altitude areas.

Strong tremors were also felt in the cities of Qamdo and Nyingchi in Tibet.

Videos on social media show villagers running into the streets as buildings shake violently in the dark, although these have not been independently verified.

The region is prone to devastating seismic activity.

In 2023, a 6.2 magnitude quake killed more than 120 people in the nearby mountainous Gansu province of China.

Tibet and Nepal were also recently devastated by massive floods and landslides less than two months ago, unleashed by a glacier collapse, which killed at least 1,400 people. Hundreds of others are still reported missing.

Tibet, which has long demanded greater autonomy, is one of the most tightly controlled regions in China.

With foreign media restricted from the region and information heavily censored by authorities, Chinese state media is the main source for updates and details when such disasters happen.

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