An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale jolted the border area of Sichuan and Gansu provinces in western China at 5:58 a.m. Tuesday Beijing Time, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. The epicenter, with a depth of 20 km, was monitored at about 32.6 degrees north latitude and 105.3 degrees east longitude, the center said in a statement.
The epicenter was located at the border area of Qingchuan County in the city of Guangyuan in Sichuan and Wenxian County in the city of Longnan in Gansu. "People ran out of their houses when the quake struck, but there have been no housing collapses in urban Wenxian County," said Zhang Huaibi, deputy chief of the county's publicity department.
All villages in Wenxian County with communication services have reported no casualties, said Liu Huiping, head of Zhongmiao Township in Wenxian. In a related development, another earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale jolted Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region at 8:21 a.m. Tuesday Beijing Time.
The epicenter, with a depth of 10 km, was monitored at about 43.6 degrees north latitude and 82.4 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.