BEIJING, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- China appealed Sunday to the international community for humanitarian aid after at least 228 people were killed and 3,700 seriously injured in a devastating earthquake Saturday that toppled buildings and flattened houses in Yunnan province.

More than 10,000 victims suffered minor injuries and were crowding into hospitals, clinics and makeshift medical facilities without sufficient personnel.

Sun Baiqiu, vice president of the Red Cross Society of China, said his organization had already begun rescue operations but expected prompt assistance from the world community after relaying an urgent appeal to the International Red Cross and its chapters in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The Yunnan Red Cross has sent 50 doctors and $156,600 worth of relief supplies, including food, clothing and medicine, to the quake-stricken region, Sun said.

The temblor, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, rocked Lijiang and Zhongdian counties in the picturesque mountain region 210 miles northwest of the provincial capital of Kunming at 7:14 p.m. Saturday.

No foreign tourists were injured or killed, although the area is one of China's most popular destinations with its lofty snow-capped peaks and valleys.

Relief headquarters headed by Governor He Zhiqiang were organized following an emergency meeting of provincial government officials, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

About 1,500 local army officers and 350 militiamen were sent to help in the massive rescue work. Three special medical teams were also on their way.

A high-level delegation led by Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo headed for the quake-stricken area to direct rescue operations and express sympathy for the victims.

"The situation is very, very serious," said Li Yaochun, chief of public security in the city of Lijiang.

"All of the hospitals, clinics and enterprise medical stations are packed full of injured people," Li said. Municipal buildings were opened to handle the overflow.

Thousands spent the night outside in fear of powerful aftershocks. Many sifted through the rubble that had once been their wood or brick homes, hoping to find a few belongings intact.

"We were finishing dinner when the house started to shake," said a Lijiang farmer. "I told my wife to hurry outside and leave everything."

The number of dead and injured was expected to rise as soldiers and medical personnel picked through the debris in suburbs and villages nestled in the hills and mountains, officials said.

"People ran out of their houses screaming and crying," said Li. "They were terrified."

Sections of the Lijiang Hotel, one of two in the city, collapsed, injuring several Chinese tourists, a spokesman said. The facility canceled all reservations for the next month to make repairs.

About 10 percent of the old houses in the county seat also collapsed, water and electricity were cut off and even the city wall crumbled into ruins.

Noting a plague afflicted the area last year, Li said, "People are worried the plague will come back after the quake."

At one Lijiang farm, the official Xinhua news agency reported 29 people were killed. In the suburbs of Heqing county, several buildings collapsed, one person died and six others were injured.

The city of Zhongdian, capital of the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Region, was cut off from the outside world.

Yunnan, one of China's most seismically active regions, sits atop a major fault line between the Eurasian and Pacific Rim tectonic plates.

Last month seismologists predicted earthquakes measuring 6 to 7 on the Richter scale in the region.

Since 1930, three earthquakes measuring above 6 have been recorded in the Liujiang and Zhongdian area.

The Yunnan Seismological Bureau sent a 50-member team to the area to evaluate the damage and monitor the possibility of another quake within the next few days.