China orders 'all-out' rescue after Tibet quake kills 16

BEIJING, Oct 23: China ordered an "all-out" rescue effort in a remote area of Tibet on Friday after an earthquake killed at least 16 people and injured dozens more, state media reported.

Footage showed rescue workers clambering in the dark through some of the 339 houses that Xinhua said collapsed or were damaged in Thursday evening's 7.0-magnitude quake.

Diners ran out of restaurants and items fell off wobbling supermarket shelves as the tremor struck, footage on state broadcaster CCTV showed.

Xinhua said that 76 people were injured, 11 of them seriously, and that over 12,000 residents were evacuated following the tremor at 10:33 pm (1433 GMT).

Hundreds of rescue workers and police were deployed, as well as sniffer dogs and equipment, to locate people under the rubble, CCTV said. More than 300 soldiers were also mobilised.�" AFP