Big quake hits China. Earthquake China map April 14 2010
Map of China locating the epicentre of a 6.9-magnitude quake which rocked remote Qinghai province Wednesday.
A strong earthquake hit northwest China's remote Qinghai province early Wednesday, causing an unspecified number of casualties and collapsing some homes, state media and seismologists said.
The 6.9-magnitude quake, which hit at 7:49 am (2349 GMT Tuesday), was centred 380 kilometres (240 miles) south-southeast of the city of Golmud, at a depth of 46 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.
Xinhua news agency quoted witnesses near the epicentre saying there had been "casualties and house collapses," but gave no further information on damage from the quake, which struck a rugged and lightly populated area.
Two aftershocks rattled the area near the border with Tibet within a half-hour after the quake, with magnitudes of 5.3 and 5.2, the USGS reported.
China's earthquake administration put the magnitude of the initial earthquake at 7.1.
Calls by AFP to local government headquarters in Yushu County, the quake's epicentre, went unanswered.
The remote high-altitude region is prone to earthquakes. The zone, which is home to ethnic Mongolians and Tibetan farmers and herdsmen, is dotted with coal, tin, lead and copper mines.
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