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Major earthquake strikes northwest of China

A major earthquake and two aftershocks hit China's northwestern region of Xinjiang on Friday morning, the China Earthquake Administration said.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 10:38 March 21, 2008
  • Gulf News

Beijing: A major earthquake and two aftershocks hit China's northwestern region of Xinjiang on Friday morning, the China Earthquake Administration said.

The intial quake,measuring 7.3 on the Reichter scale, happened at 6:33 pm EDT on Thursday, or 6:33 am local time. The epicenter was located near Yutian County, or about 230 km (140 miles) southeast of the city of Hotan.

China said the initial quake was followed by a magnitude 5.1 aftershock at 6:38 pm EDT and one of magnitude 5.2 about 30 minutes later, both roughly in the same location.

The number of casualities and damage is not yet known.

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