China launches emergency response to earthquake in Ningxia

BEIJING -- Chinese authorities have activated a level-four disaster-relief emergency response after a 4.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Yongning county in Yinchuan, the capital of Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, on Thursday.

A work team has been dispatched to aid local relief operations in the affected areas, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located at a latitude of 38.4 degrees north and a longitude of 106.22 degrees east, which struck at a depth of 10 kilometers, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

No casualties have been reported.

At 4:43 pm (Beijing Time) on Thursday, another earthquake — this one with a magnitude of 4.6 — jolted Jinfeng district in Yinchuan, the center said.

The epicenter of the second quake was located at a latitude of 38.41 degrees north and a longitude of 106.26 degrees east, according to the center.