Tibet jolted by two earthquakes

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

PTI
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BEIJING: Tibet was on Wednesday jolted by two earthquakes measuring 5.7 and 5.5 magnitudes on the Richter Scale, the Earthquake Networks Centre said.

The first 5.7-magnitude quake struck at around 10:06 am (local time) and the second 5.5-magnitude hit 38 minutes later, both in northern Tibet's Nyainrong County, Nagqu Prefecture.

No reports of casualties or damage were immediately available.

The epicentre of the first quake was 32.4 degrees north latitude and 93.0 degrees east longitude at a depth of about eight kilometres.

The epicentre of the second quake was 32.5 degrees north latitude and 92.8 degrees east longitude at a depth of about seven kilometres, official Xinhua news agency quoted the centre as saying.

The quake hit a sparsely inhabited mountainous area with an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, said Zhu Quan, director with the seismological bureau of Tibet.

The region suffered frequent quakes in the past years.