A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the sparsely populated region of western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, injuring six people and damaging or destroying more than 120 homes in freezing temperatures.
BEIJING — A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the sparsely populated region of China’s western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region early Tuesday, injuring six people and damaging or destroying more than 120 homes in freezing temperatures, authorities said.
According to the China Earthquake Network Center, the earthquake struck Wuchulpan County, Aksu County (called Wushi County in Mandarin), just after 2 a.m. Approximately 200 rescue workers were dispatched to the epicenter.
Of the six injured, two had serious injuries and four had minor injuries. In addition, 47 houses were destroyed, 78 houses were damaged, and some agricultural buildings were destroyed, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region government posted on its official Weibo account.
According to a report from Aksu city authorities, the earthquake knocked out power lines, but electricity was quickly restored. According to Xinjiang authorities, the population of the mountainous Uchutlpan province was about 233,000 in 2022.
The Urumqi Railway Bureau confirmed that there were no problems with the line through a safety inspection, and operations resumed just after 7 a.m. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Capital Bureau announced on its official Weibo account that 23 trains were affected by the suspension.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.0 and occurred in the seismically active Tien Shan Mountains. The region’s strongest earthquake in 100 years was a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that occurred early Tuesday morning in 1978, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) north, the report said.
Multiple aftershocks were recorded, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 5.3.
This rural area is home to mainly ethnic Uyghurs of Turkish descent, the majority of whom are Muslim and have been the subject of a state campaign of forced assimilation and mass detention.
Temperatures well below freezing have been recorded in Uchuturfan County, and the China Meteorological Administration predicts that the minimum temperature will drop to -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.
In southwestern China’s Yunnan province, rescue workers continued searching for victims buried in a landslide in Liangshui village on Monday. Eleven bodies were found and two survivors were rescued after a landslide buried 47 people in 18 homes in freezing cold and snow.
The shaking from Tuesday’s earthquake was felt hundreds of kilometers away. Ma Shenyi, a 30-year-old pet shop owner in Tacheng, 600 kilometers (373 miles) from the epicenter, said her dog started barking before she felt her apartment building shake. The earthquake was so strong that the neighbors fled downstairs. Mom rushed to the bathroom and she started crying.
Mr. Ma said, “If it was a major earthquake, there would be no point in running away. I was scared to death.”
Chandeliers shook, buildings were evacuated and a media office building near the epicenter shook for a full minute, state news agency Xinhua reported. 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 tremors were felt throughout the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and in neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. People fled their homes in Kazakhstan’s capital Almaty, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
Videos posted on the Telegram messaging platform 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.
Earthquakes are common in western China, including Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan, as well as in Xinjiang and Tibet.
An earthquake that struck Gansu province in December killed 151 people, making it China’s deadliest earthquake in nine years.
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