CCTV/AP
Rescue teams search for survivors under the rubble after an earthquake occurred in China’s far western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region on January 23, 2024.
Hong Kong
CNN
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A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck a remote mountainous area in China’s far western Xinjiang region early Tuesday morning, leaving multiple people injured, state media reported, and the violent shaking was felt hundreds of miles away in Central Asian countries.
According to state-run Xinhua news agency, the earthquake occurred just after 2 a.m. local time in Aksu Governorate’s Ushi (also known as Ukturpan) prefecture, near the border with Kyrgyzstan.
According to Xinhua news agency, two houses were destroyed by the strong shaking and two main power lines near the epicenter were severed, but electricity was quickly restored.
Xinjiang railway authorities immediately closed lines in the earthquake-hit areas and suspended 27 trains, Xinhua News Agency reported.
State broadcaster CCTV said three people were hospitalized in a town 26 kilometers from the epicenter. The station said one child was rescued from the rubble of a house in the town.
According to Xinhua news agency, nearly 200 rescue workers have been dispatched to the area where the earthquake occurred, and hundreds more are gathering.
As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, more than 50 aftershocks of magnitude 3 or higher had been reported, according to the state-run China Earthquake Network Center.
CCTV said the epicenter of the quake was in a remote, mountainous and sparsely populated area at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters (9,842 feet).
According to Xinhua News Agency, there are five villages within a 20km radius of the epicenter and about 50km from Wushi County’s main urban area.
According to China’s latest census in 2020, Wushi County’s population is 205,000.
The violent shaking was felt in cities hundreds of miles away, including the Silk Road oasis of Kashgar and Hotan in southern Xinjiang.
Videos posted by residents of Xinjiang on Chinese social media show lights swaying and crashing to the floor as nighttime temperatures dropped to -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) and people wearing winter jackets and blankets. Crowds of people are seen wrapping up and taking shelter outside on the street.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the tremor was felt across the border in Kyrgyzstan.
In nearby Kazakhstan, residents of the country’s largest city, Almaty, fled their homes despite the cold weather and gathered outside, some wearing pajamas and slippers, Reuters reported. According to Reuters, the earthquake was felt as far away as Uzbekistan.
Most residents of rural southern and western Xinjiang are Uyghurs, a Muslim-majority ethnic minority, who have been subject to extensive treatment by the Chinese government in recent years, ranging from mass detentions to severe restrictions on religious and cultural life. They are subject to severe oppression.
A United Nations report said China committed “grave human rights violations” against the Uyghurs that could amount to “crimes against humanity,” a charge the Chinese government vehemently denies. .
In December, a massive earthquake struck northwestern China’s Gansu and Qinghai provinces, killing 151 people, the worst death toll to hit the country in nine years.