A strong earthquake hit the border region between China and Kyrgyzstan yesterday. As the US Earthquake Observatory (USGS) announced, the center of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake occurred in Xinjiang province in northwest China. Shortly afterwards, three slightly weaker aftershocks were recorded in the region. There are no reports of casualties in the mountainous region. However, the US earthquake monitoring agency warned that “significant damage” and deaths were expected.
The earthquake's tremors could be felt even in the Indian capital, New Delhi, 1,400 kilometers away, as local TV stations reported.
The People's Republic is repeatedly rocked by earthquakes, some of which are devastating. In December, 148 people died in a strong earthquake in the Chinese province of Gansu. It was the deadliest earthquake in China since 2014, when more than 600 people died in the southwestern province of Yunnan. In 2008, more than 87,000 people died in a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province.