Magnitude-5.6 quake hits county in Sichuan

A magnitude-5.6 earthquake struck Luding county in the Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province at 3:49 am on Thursday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

The epicenter was 11 kilometers underground at 102.01 degrees east longitude and 29.63 degrees north latitude in Luding. There have been no reported casualties or other damage as of late Thursday.

The center detected more than 100 smaller earthquakes in the nearby area in the following hours.

After the earthquake, the Sichuan Fire Rescue Corps sent 184 people, 34 vehicles and three dogs to the scene to carry out disaster investigation and search and rescue work, and the Sichuan Forest Fire Brigade sent 100 people, 22 vehicles and three dogs to the scene, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

"Transportation, communication and power supplies near Moxi, the town at the epicenter, and in the Luding county seat are normal, and no reports of casualties, house collapses or property damage have been received," said Luo Chukai, deputy head of the publicity department of the Luding county committee of the Communist Party of China.

The earthquake was strongly felt in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, which is 220 km from the epicenter, as well as in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture, the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture and the city of Ya'an in Sichuan.

The Sichuan Earthquake Administration and the CENC had an emergency meeting, where experts said that the earthquake was an aftershock of the magnitude-6.8 earthquake in Luding on Sept 5, that killed 93 people, with the two epicenters 8 km apart.

Mountainous Sichuan is prone to earthquakes. The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake killed 69,226 people, with 17,923 others reported as missing.

Zhang Kun contributed to this story.