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Quake rocks northwest China; 24 dead

March 19, 1996

Web posted at: 11:55 p.m. EST (0455 GMT)

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- At least 24 people were killed in an earthquake that hit northwest China on Tuesday evening, the Chinese news agency Xinhua said. The 6.9 magnitude earthquake cut telephone lines in some prefectures and seriously damaged as many as three of every 10 homes in Jiashi County, according to the Xinjiang Seismological Bureau.

The bureau placed the quake's epicenter north of Artux county and near the border with Kazakhstan. It said that another 35 people were known to be injured, but it was difficult to accurately determine casualties because telephones were knocked out in areas worst hit by the quake.

An agency official estimated about 500 families, or 3,000 people, were in the affected area, which included the prefectures of Artux, Jiashi, Kashi, and Bachu. He said a task force led by the head of the seismological bureau was en route to the region to monitor the extent of the damages.

According to Xinhua, which is run by the Chinese government, Chinese seismologists predicted the location and size of the earthquake earlier this year. It did not say whether experts had prepared the residents of the region for the tremor.