BEIJING (AP) – A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck a remote part of China’s western Xinjiang region early Tuesday, cutting power lines, destroying at least two homes and forcing authorities to halt trains, state media reported. Ta.
Xinhua News Agency, citing the China Earthquake Network Center, reported that an earthquake struck Uchuturpan Prefecture (Wushi Prefecture in Chinese) in Aksu Prefecture just after 2 a.m. local time.
Aksu city authorities said two houses were destroyed and about 200 emergency rescue workers had been sent to the epicenter, state broadcaster CCTV reported. CCTV reported that Xinjiang railway authorities canceled dozens of trains in the region and sealed off the affected sections. Aksu city authorities reported that the earthquake knocked out power lines, but that electricity was quickly restored to the area.
There were no immediate reports of deaths.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred in the Tien Shan Mountains, “an area that is seismically active, but where earthquakes of this magnitude occur somewhat infrequently.” The report said the strongest earthquake in the region in 100 years was a magnitude 7.1 quake in 1978 that occurred about 200 kilometers north early Tuesday morning.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, there have been 14 aftershocks since the main shock, two of which registered magnitude 5 or higher.
The earthquake occurred in a rural area inhabited by a large population of Muslim Uyghur ethnic Turks. Uyghurs have been the subject of a state campaign of forced assimilation and mass detention in recent years.
Uchuturfan County, the epicenter of the quake, has recorded temperatures well below freezing, with the China Meteorological Administration predicting temperatures could drop to as low as -18 degrees Celsius (below zero Fahrenheit) this week. Parts of northern and central China were shivered by frigid temperatures this winter, with authorities closing schools and highways several times due to snowstorms.
Videos posted by Chinese netizens on Weibo showed residents standing on the streets wearing winter jackets, while photos posted by surveillance cameras showed debris from cracked walls falling. was.
The tremor was felt as far away as neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. People fled their homes in Kazakhstan’s capital Almaty, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
Videos posted on the social messaging platform Telegram showed people in Almaty running down the stairs of apartment blocks and standing on the street outside after feeling the strong shaking. Some people appeared to have left their homes in a hurry and were photographed standing outside in sub-zero temperatures in shorts.
In December, an earthquake struck northwest China’s Gansu province, killing 151 people. It was the deadliest earthquake in China in nine years.
Most of China’s earthquakes occur in western regions such as Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan, Xinjiang, and Tibet.