6.5 magnitude earthquake in Xinhiang North West China, 6 dead
A earthquake with a 6.5 magnitude struck the North West China province Xinjiang’s Hotan 160km (100miles) Prefecture, Uygur autonomous region 3rd July 2015, morning in which six people were killed and 48 others injured and destroying or damaging thousands of homes, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC) and the government and state media.
Many traditional houses in the mainly ethnic Uighur region collapsed northwest of the southern city of Hotan, emergency officials said.
The dead included a father and son, the government-run China National Emergency Broadcasting said on its website.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs added that at least 3,000 homes either collapsed or were seriously damaged and 1,000 tents were being sent to the region.
Earthquakes frequently strike China. A quake in the southwestern province of Sichuan in 2008 killed almost 70,000 people.
“If many people are gathered in one place during an earthquake, it can lead to a serious disaster, but in this case, there were relatively few people so it isn’t so serious,” China Earthquake Networks Centre researcher Sun Shihong told state broadcaster China Central Television.
Xinjiang, located on the borders of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, is one of China’s most politically sensitive regions following years of violence, blamed by the government on Islamist militants.
Exiled Uighur groups and human rights activists say the government’s repressive policies and religious and cultural restrictions have provoked unrest, an accusation the government denies.
Following this, the local administration has issued a level-II emergency response to the quake.
The quake rocked Pishan County at 9:07 am with its epicentre monitored at a depth of 10 kms, the CENC said.
Li Hua, a worker at a state-owned farm in Pishan, told Xinhua that he felt the strong quake at his home on the fourth floor and it lasted about a minute and was feeling dizzy.
Shortly after the quake, several minor quakes measuring between 3.0 and 4.6 magnitude rocked the area, according to the CENC.
Located in the southernmost part of Xinjiang, Pishan is about 1,800 kilometres away from the regional capital of Urumqi and covers 39,700 square kilometres.
With a population of 258,000, the county is mainly inhabited by Uygur Muslims and other ethnic minorities.