The sparsely populated Ngari region in western Tibet Autonomous Region was hit by a strong earthquake and an after-shock on Saturday afternoon, but no casualties were reported.

 

It will take days to get accurate details of the damage because of the remoteness of the villages that may have been affected by the earthquakes, said information from Ngari Prefectural Government.

 

The earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale shook the border areas between Rutog and Gerze in Ngari, at 4:51 PM on Saturday, China's Seismological Monitoring Network reported.

 

The epicenter was determined to be at 34.3 degrees north latitude and 81.9 degrees east longitude.

 

An after-shock measuring 5 on the Richter scale was also monitored in the region of Ngari at 5:11 PM on the same day.

 

Preliminary investigations show the worst hit were Songxi, Aru villages in Rutog County, and Bare Village in Gerze. Cracks were found in the walls of some residential apartments near the township government headquarters of Dongru, administered by Rutog.

 

Ngari Prefectural Government sources say that they have sent workers to investigate other villages in the region.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2007)