Gov't initiates emergency response to Xinjiang quake
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Xinhua, November 1, 2011
China Earthquake Administration (CEA) initiated third-class emergency response to a 6.0-magnitude quake that jolted the country's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region early Tuesday morning.
The quake hit the border area of Yining and Gongliu counties, and no casualties have been reported so far.
The quake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale rocked the Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili at 8:21 a.m., knocking down several corrals and damaging nearby houses, officials with the region's earthquake administration said.
Schools have been temporarily closed and two work teams have been dispatched for rescue and recovery work, the official said.
A landslide triggered by the quake has blocked a section of highway, halting traffic bound for the disaster area, according to local reporter Lai Yuning.
The earthquake was also felt in the nearby counties of Xinyuan, Gongliu and Nilka.
The administration has ordered local earthquake administrations to swiftly conduct disaster analysis and quake relief, and has sent a special work group to Xinjiang.
Other relevant institutions and centers, including the National Earthquake Response Support Service Center and the Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration (IGCEA), should provide technological support for quake relief by giving information like local geologic structure and remote sensing analysis, the CEA said.
In a related development, another earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale jolted the border area of Sichuan and Gansu provinces in western China at 5:58 a.m. Tuesday Beijing Time, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. No casualties have been reported.
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