Injuries from the magnitude 7 Tibet earthquake rise to 65, with the death toll holding at 16 and more than 12,000 people relocated, as of October 23

The quake struck Nagqu, a sparsely populated, high altitude city in northern Tibet. The local government said in a social media post on Friday that the injured count had risen to 65, as of October 23, while the death count remained unchanged at 16, Reuters reported.

More than 300 police officers, including traffic and community police, were sent to the epicenter for rescue and emergency relief work, the Nagqu police department said in a WeChat post early Friday. Officers checked homes for damage and helped people move to safer locations. A police video posted on Douyin showed officers packing supplies into a truck in the dark and inspecting a building and rubble with flashlights. State media outlet Xinhua reported more than 12,000 people safely relocated.

Residents described being woken by the shaking and hearing their houses creak and squeak through the tremor, then sleeping outside or in cars. The China Earthquake Networks Center recorded 413 aftershocks.

The comparison that frames the toll is 2010. A magnitude 7.1 quake that year in Yushu, in neighboring Qinghai province, killed at least 2,698 people and left nearly 300 missing. Nagqu sparse population and high, spread out settlement kept this stronger quake far less deadly, so far. The injured count rising while the death count holds is the pattern of a rescue operation finding survivors in damaged buildings rather than bodies, and officials gave no sign on Friday that they expect the toll to jump.