Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday called for every possible effort to be made to rescue people affected by an earthquake that killed at least 16 people and injured 76 in a remote region of Tibet, state media reported.

More than 300 houses collapsed or were damaged in the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck the mountainous area around Baqing district at 10:33 p.m. (2:33 p.m. GMT) on Thursday, several hundred kilometers and at least a 10-hour drive from the regional capital Lhasa, state media reported.

More than 12,000 residents have been evacuated, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

At least 11 injured people are in serious condition, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

"We had just gone to bed when the house suddenly started shaking and things began falling from all sides," a resident said in a video posted by the news site Sina News.

"We rushed outside without taking the time to get dressed. My legs were shaking and when I got downstairs I was so terrified I burst into tears," she said.

Many people in the neighborhood "put up tents on the side of the road or spent the night in their cars" for fear of sleeping at home, she said.

Another resident, identified as Mr. Li, was caught in his sleep. "The house was shaking all over the place. Everyone ran outside and is too scared to go back inside," he said in a video posted on the Beijing News website and filmed shortly after the tremors, as he got into his car to go sleep in a safe area.

CCTV footage circulating on social media and through state media shows customers and employees rushing out of restaurants and objects falling from supermarket shelves as the earthquake strikes.

In other images, rescuers search for signs of life at night with flashlights in the rubble.

The earthquake affected a region located at an average altitude of over 4,500 m and with a very low population density. The inhabitants live in sparsely populated areas, primarily engaged in agriculture and livestock farming.

Hundreds of firefighters, rescue workers and police officers have arrived or are being transported to the affected areas, with dogs and detection, rescue and extrication equipment, CCTV reported.

- Two tragedies in two months -

The army was also mobilized, with more than 300 soldiers deployed to the scene. It also used air assets, including a drone, for reconnaissance operations, according to CCTV.

President Xi called for "maximum rescue efforts" to search for and save those affected by the disaster, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. He mentioned a "significant number of casualties" without providing further details.

"We must also do everything possible to treat the injured in order to reduce the loss of life," he said.

He cited the high altitude and the cold, and stressed the need to closely monitor weather conditions, but also the risk of aftershocks to "prevent secondary disasters," he said.

CCTV reported maximum daytime temperatures of 5°C and nighttime temperatures of -6°C, as well as localized snowfall.

Earthquakes are frequent in China. Tibet itself is located in an area of high seismic activity due to the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates and the multitude of faults.

In January 2025, at least 126 people were killed in a magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck Tingri County, Tibet, not far from the Sino-Nepalese border.

Elsewhere in China, an earthquake in Sichuan province (southwest) in 2008 killed or left missing around 90,000 people, including some 5,000 schoolchildren.

The Tibet Autonomous Region is virtually inaccessible to foreign journalists. They can generally only visit on press trips organized by the authorities.

Tibet was hit on August 26 by an ice and rockslide and a massive flood that officially killed 43 people on the Chinese side and at least 1,400 on the other side of the border in Nepal.