Moderate quake affects 16,000 people in SW China

www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-22 20:11:32

    KUNMING, March 22 (Xinhua) --

A 5.0 magnitude quake that jolted southwest China's Yunnan Province Friday evening has affected nearly 16,000 residents and damaged houses, roads and power lines, local government said on Saturday.

    Seven houses collapsed and 3,600 others were damaged in the quake, which hit Tongbiguan Town, about 40 kilometers from the Yingjiang County seat at 8:36 p.m. Friday.

    But there has been no report of casualties.

    The quake also destroyed dozens of kilometers of rural roads and caused power cuts for 12 villager teams in the town.

    The area has been hit by aftershocks, the biggest of 4.0 magnitude, said the Yunnan Provincial Seismological Bureau.

    More than 200 soldiers from the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture have reached the affected area to help evacuate people from dangerous buildings and carry out relief work.

    A 7.3-magnitude tremor hit Yutian County, Hotan Prefecture, in the remote northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, at 6:33 a.m. Friday. There have been reports of house collapses but no casualties.

Editor: Jiang Yuxia

Strong quakes affect 44,000 in China's Xinjiang region, no casualties reported

www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-22 15:02:43  

    URUMQI, March 22 (Xinhua) --

At least a dozen earthquakes jolted Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China's remote northwest on Friday affecting 44,000 people, but no casualties reported local authorities said on Saturday.

    Meanwhile, about 2,200 houses were damaged or flattened in counties of Yutian, Qira and Lop in southern Xinjiang's Hotan Prefecture during the quakes, which also toppled hundreds of livestock sheds and vegetable greenhouses, a spokesman with the regional Department of Civil Affairs said.

    Direct economic losses were estimated at about 10 million yuan (1.4 million U.S. dollars), the spokesman said.

    The first and strongest 7.3-magnitude tremor hit Yutian at 6:33a.m on Friday, which was followed by at least 12 aftershocks measuring over 3.8 on the Richter scale. A number of other minor quakes were also registered, according to the Xinjiang seismological bureau.

    Four houses in Pulu, the nearest village to the epicenter in the sparsely-inhabited Kunlun Mountain region, collapsed during the first tremor, but the residents escaped.

    Residents of another 110 households in the village were evacuated to safe places by 4 p.m. on Friday. The 190 families who had moved to quakeproof residences built by the local government over the past three years, were unaffected, the local government said.

    The village temporarily closed its sole primary school on Friday. The building remained intact.

    Power supply, telecommunications and traffic were almost unaffected.

    In 2004, the Hotan government launched a project to build quake-resistant houses in the quake-prone Kunlun Mountain region. More than 1.2 million people in 257,000 households had moved to new quake-resistant buildings by September last year.

Editor: Yao Siyan