Earthquakes Rattle Western China

WONG:
Moving onto China where two powerful earthquakes in scarcely populated areas have caused chaos over the least two days. Here's more on the situation.

STORY:
One quake in the remote mountain region of Tibet killed at least nine people on Monday. That quake measured 6.6 on the Richter scale. Though the epicenter was about 80 km west of the regional capital of Lhasa, the quake was strongly felt there.

[Lhasa Resident]:
"When the earthquake hit I felt really dizzy and the shaking made me frantic. I ran down the stairs of the building. Everything rocked from side to side. No one could stand up straight."

Nine bodies have been found so far in the ruins of collapsed buildings, along with 11 seriously injured, all in Gedar township of Damxung County, near the epicenter.

The quake came less than 24 hours after a quake in China's northwestern predominantly Muslim Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The Xinjiang quake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale. It hit soon after a stronger quake struck nearby Kyrgyzstan.

In Wuqia over 200 buildings have been damaged and students were forced to take class outside. However, no one has been found to be seriously hurt.

Earthquakes are fairly frequent in Xinjiang but most cause little or no damage in the sparsely populated region.

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News & Politics

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