About 18,000 people have been left homeless after the earthquake
measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale, which struck a remote county in
northwest China last week.
The quake, which struck Tekes County, Ili Kazak Autonomous
Prefecture in northern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, at 6:06 PM
on Friday, destroyed 4,600 houses and damaged 7,800 others,
affecting 27,000 people, the prefectural government said.
No casualties have been reported, but more than 470 livestock
sheds collapsed in the quake, killing about 400 livestock, it
said.
The quake has caused direct losses of 63.75 million yuan (US$8.3
million).
Disaster relief materials such as tents and flour have been
transported to the area.
The relocated residents are being accommodated with relatives or
in tents provided by the government.
The quake also damaged four bridges in the county, including an
88-meter-long span over the Tekes River, which was seriously
damaged and is now closed to vehicles weighing more than five
tons.
Tekes County has a population of 143,000 with an area of 8,352
square kilometers.
Working teams from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the China
Seismological Administration and the regional government are still
in the area directing disaster relief efforts.
An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale rocked
Xinjiang's Zhaosu County on border area with Kazakhstan on Dec. 1,
2003, killing 11 people, badly injuring 26 and destroying more than
700 homes.
(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2007)