Magnitude 5.8 earthquake topples houses in northwest China

BEIJING (AFP) May 05, 2003
An earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale has toppled houses in an area of northwest China devastated by an earthquake in February, local officials said.

The tremor struck at 11.44 pm (1544 GMT) Sunday in Jiashi county in the predominantly Muslim Xinjiang region, seismological officials told AFP.

The area was levelled by a powerful quake on February 24, leaving 268 people dead and 4,000 injured.

"Around 20 residential houses collapsed in the neighbouring county of Yuepuhu," Liu Zongjian, from China's State Seismological Bureau, told AFP.

"We haven't got any detailed information about any casualties or damage yet from the epicenter."

Xinjiang Seismological Bureau official Zhang Yong added: "It is an aftershock. Some officials are at the scene. We don't know any more at the moment."

The quake in February, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, affected an area of more than 22,500 square kilometers (9,000 square miles), causing 157 million dollars worth of damage, according to earlier official reports.

It destroyed 20,000 houses, cut water and power supplies and toppled 591 schools and 384 mosques.

SPACE.WIRE