BEIJING - Chinese authorities have dispatched a work team to Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to check the disaster situation and direct rescue work after two earthquakes hit the region Wednesday.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the National Commission for Disaster Reduction initiated an emergency disaster relief response soon after 5:19 pm when a 7.3-magnitude quake struck.
The epicenter, with a depth of 12 km, was located at Yutian county in southwest Xinjiang, or about 36.1 degrees north latitude and 82.5 degrees east longitude, the center said in a statement.
A 5.7-magnitude quake hit the same area at 5:24 pm with a depth of 5 km, followed by several quakes less than 5 magnitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
No immediate casualties have been reported, but some houses have probably been toppled or damaged, the ministry said.
The area is sparsely populated and most residents are Uygurs.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 
