Major Quake Strikes Western China

There Are No Reports Of Injuries Following The Massive 7.2-Magnitude Tremor

(AP)  A major earthquake struck western China early Friday, but there were no reports of casualties.

The magnitude-7.2 quake hit at 6:33 a.m., about 225 140 miles southeast of the city of Hotan in southwest Xinjiang province, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

China's Earthquake Administration confirmed the earthquake, but said it had a magnitude of 7.3.

There were no reports of casualties in the sparsely populated area, a spokesman for the agency said. The spokesman, reached at agency offices, declined to give his name.

There were four aftershocks in the region, ranging from magnitude 5.0 to magnitude 5.2, according to a notice on the Earthquake Administration's Web site.

The earthquakes occurred around Ahqan town and Bostan town, just north of the Kunlun mountains, with a total population of around 13,400 people, according to Chinese state media.

China's state-run television channel CCTV said some houses had collapsed, but that no one was hurt.

Xinjiang is a predominantly Muslim region with a culture that is distinctly different from that of China's ethnic Han majority.

Dale Grant, a USGS geophysicist, described the area as "very seismically active," and said Friday's temblor was the biggest there on record.

The Earthquake Administration said the last earthquake in the Hotan region in 1992 had a 5.9 magnitude.

A quake that hit western Xinjiang in 2003 had a 6.8 magnitude and killed 268 people in Bachu county.

Meanwhile, a moderate earthquake jolted an area of southwestern China close to the border with Myanmar, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage following the magnitude 5 quake in Yunnan province Friday night, the report said.

Phones at the seismological bureau in Yunnan's Yingjiang County were busy.

China's deadliest earthquake in modern history struck the northeastern city of Tangshan on July 28, 1976, killing some 240,000 people. Its magnitude was measured at 7.8 to 8.2.

[ansonmao]

I don''t know why Chinese authority always blocking the internet information with some sensitive issues,looks like hiding something which make their behavior suspected.

I am a chinese, I have to say China is in progress to a better status,however, I really don''t like our government to block information. Actully, we could say something on the behalf of chinese interests, internet is a good way for the chinese to exert influence in the world stage. Why don''t trust us?

[rushman71]

ansonmao: Eventhough the people of China are experiencing a more capitalistic society today than in years of the past, the Chinese Government is continuing to stay focused on their Communist ideas. Therefore, they will do anything that they can to control what comes and goes into their society. Here in America, we have the right to say what we want to say, do what we want to do, and be what we want to be (all on a legal basis). But China wants none of that. They are not doing this for the People of China, but for the dominant government.

[gce65]

China, God is angry with you!
Get out of Tibet!
Get out of Darfur!
Get out of Taiwan!