An earthquake measuring 5.6 degrees on the Richter scale jolted
a county in northwest China's Qinghai Province at 5:53 PM (Beijing Time)
Wednesday, according to the China Seismological Bureau.
The epicenter was located in a sparsely populated pasturing area
on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at 33.0 degrees north latitude
and 96.3 degrees east longitude, about 70 kilometers south of the
county seat of Yushu.
The area was hit by another earthquake measuring 5.0 degrees on
the Richter scale on Tuesday.
No casualties from both the quakes have been reported, according
to the bureau.
With a population of 240,100, Yushu County is located in the
southwest of Qinghai. It is under the administration of the Yushu
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which covers an area of 198,000
square kilometers or 27.5 percent of the province's total.
The vast grasslands and snow mountains in the prefecture jointly
form the headwaters of three major rivers of China: the Yangtze
River, the Yellow River and the Lancang River.
(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2006)