BEIJING: An quake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck China’s far western region of Xinjiang on Friday, the United States Geological Survey said.
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A grade IV response, the lowest in the country’s emergency response system, means a 24-hour alert, daily damage reports, and dispatching money and relief materials within 48 hours.
The center said the quake aftershocks, one to his right and reached a magnitude of 3 degrees and the other to 4.6 on the Richter scale.
“Currently, the natural disaster has resulted in three deaths, including a father and son, and more than 20 injuries”, China National Emergency Broadcasting (CNEB) said on it’s website.
Six people had been killed and about 3,000 houses and other buildings collapsed or were damaged, the Bureau of Civil Affairs in Xinjiang said.
State media carried images showing cracked walls in the building of the county fire department.
“I’m feeling dizzy”, he told Xinhua.
With a population of 258,000, the county is mainly inhabited by the Uyghur ethnic minority.
The China quake Network Centre gave the magnitude as 6.5.
Xinjiang, located on the borders of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, is one of China’s most politically sensitive regions following years of violence, blamed by the government on Islamist militants.
A total of 22 military medical teams were dispatched to quake-hit Pishan County in Hotan Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to treat dozens of injured residents.
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The quake hit a remote and mostly rural region, killing at least six people.
