BEIJING, May 4 – An earthquake registering 5.5 on the open-ended Richter scale shook part of China’s western Qinghai province on Tuesday, but no casualties or damage were reported.
The tremor hit the city of Delingha at around 0500 GMT, with its epicentre some 50 km (31 miles) away and about 600 km (372 miles) from the provincial capital, Xining, said an official with a local seismological bureau said.
“We felt quite strong tremors, but no structures collapsed in the city,” he said.
Three earthquakes have rocked the city since April 2003, when a tremor registering 6.6 on the Richter scale caused cracks in the walls of some houses, the Xinhua news agency said.
Qinghai is one of China’s most sparsely populated provinces and home to many ethnic Tibetan communities.
Earthquakes are common in China. In December, an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck Zhaosu county in the remote and mountainous northwestern region of Xinjiang. At least 10 people, mostly herdsmen, were killed and 700 mud and brick houses destroyed near the border with Kazakhstan.
