China jolted by two quakes, no causalities reported

Beijing: Two different quakes jolted parts of China early this morning, prompting people to rush out of their houses, though no casualties were reported. An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale shook the border area of Sichuan and Gansu provinces in western China at 5:58 a.m. (local time) today, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre. [caption id=“attachment_120278” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“After an earthquake at Toksun section of Turpan-Urumqi-Dahuangshan Express Way in June in Toksun County, Xinjiang, the region saw another earthquake today. Getty Images.”]  [/caption] The epicentre, with a depth of 20 km, was monitored at about 32.6 degrees north latitude and 105.3 degrees east longitude, the centre said in a statement. The epicentre was located at the border area of Qingchuan County in the city of Guangyuan in Sichuan and Wenxian County in the city of Longnan in Gansu. “People ran out of their houses when the quake struck, but there have been no housing collapses in urban Wenxian County,” said Zhang Huaibi, deputy chief of the county’s publicity department. All villages in Wenxian County with communication services have reported no casualties, said Liu Huiping, head of Zhongmiao Township in Wenxian. A little more than two hours later, another earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale jolted Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The epicentre, with a depth of 10 km, was monitored at about 43.6 degrees north latitude and 82.4 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center, Xinhua news agency reported. No reports casualties were reported in both the cases. PTI