A strong earthquake that struck at 10.30 a.m. Monday morning (Beijing time) in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has killed at least 42 people, according to early reports.

More than 1,000 houses and school buildings collapsed in a village in Bachu County, the epicenter of the earthquake that measured 6.8 degrees on the Richter scale.

Officials from the local government and seismological bureau have hurried to the village.

Damage was also caused in uninhabited areas of Bachu County and Jiashi County, but no deaths were reported there.

The earthquake shook an area about 40 km east of Jiashi County in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

It occurred at latitude 39.5 degrees north and longitude 77.2 degrees east, according to the China Seismological Bureau.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2003)