India, Oct. 23 -- China on Friday deployed satellites and drones to search for survivors after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck a mountainous region in Tibet, killing at least 16 people and injuring 76 others, authorities said.

The high-intensity shallow earthquake, which struck at a depth of below 10 km at 10.33 PM on Thursday, caused widespread devastation and heavy casualties in the remote Baqen County of the city of Nagqu in China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

So far, 12,489 residents have been evacuated, and rescue and relief operations, along with the resettlement of affected residents, are underway, state-run Xinhua news agency reported from Lhasa, the regional capital.

To assist the rescue efforts, China has deployed satellites a...