Beijing, June 30 (IBNS): At least 34 people were injured when a strong 6.6-magnitude earthquake rattled the country's northwestern Xinjiang region, media reports said.
The quake had a shallow depth of 9.8 kilometres and its epicentre was in a remote, mountainous area 99 kilometres south of the city of Dushanzi, said the US Geological Survey.
The quake struck at 21:07 GMT on Friday, while nearly 200 aftershocks struck the area by noon, the biggest measuring 4.2 in magnitude, China’s Xinhua news agency said.
The tremor, however, was felt strongly in Xinjiang's regional capital of Urumqi nearly 300 kilometres away, as well as in the major cities of Dushanzi and Kuitun, China Central Television said.
At least 24 people were reported injured, one of them seriously, while many of the victims were hurt when houses collapsed and others were tossed from their beds, Xinhua said.
Around 22,000 people had been affected by the quake, that toppled 104 houses and damaged 4,735 others, media reports said.
