|
Earthquake Shakes China's Remote West near Afghan
Border
December 26, 2002
BEIJING (AP) _ A magnitude-5.7 earthquake struck
China's remote west near the Afghan border, but no
deaths or injuries were reported, a local official
said
Thursday.
The quake struck sparsely populated Ulugqat county in
the Xinjiang region at 8:57 p.m. (1257 GMT) on
Wednesday, said Zhang Lixin, an official of the
seismology bureau for the region.
No deaths were reported in the area, whose residents
raise horses and sheep, but the walls of some
buildings
were cracked, said Zhang, who visited the quake site
Wednesday night.
The quake was centered 80 kilometers (50 miles) west
of
the city of Kashgar, Zhang said by telephone. The city
is a former oasis stop on the ancient Silk Road trade
route that lies some 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles)
west of Beijing.
In populated areas, a quake of magnitude 5 can cause
considerable damage. The area struck by Wednesday's
quake is on the eastern slopes of the Pamir mountains,
which straddle the Chinese-Afghan border and suffer
frequent earthquakes.
On Dec. 15, a quake of magnitude 5.9 in China's Gansu
region, which borders Xinjiang to the east, killed two
people and damaged thousands of houses, according to
the government.
|
