8,250 evacuated after quake in NW China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-22 14:41

URUMQI - More than 2,100 houses have collapsed and 8,250 people have been evacuated after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake jolted a county in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local officials said on Sunday.

An official with the Tekes county, Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture in northern Xinjiang, confirmed that the quake caused no human casualties but leveled or damaged 2,120 homes.

The quake hit Tekes county at 6:06 p.m. on Friday (Beijing Time), with its epicenter at a mountainous region 60 kilometers from the county seat and 430 kilometers from Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang.

Rescuers have displaced 8,250 residents as their houses, most of which are mud-brick ones, either collapsed or became dangerous, said the official.

Some of the quake-affected residents were arranged to live in the houses of their relatives or their own tents. The local government has also sent 130 tents to them.

The quake also damaged four bridges in the county, including an 88-meter-long one on the Tekes River.

Tekes county has a population of 143,000 with an area of 8,352 square kilometers.

Working teams from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the China Seismological Administration and the regional government are still in the quake-hit areas directing disaster relief operations.



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