A 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday rattled the mountainous border between China and Kyrgyzstan, resulting in at least three reported injuries.
Local authorities quickly mobilised a team to the quake’s epicenter, situated in China’s Xinjiang region, approximately 140 kilometers west of the city of Aksu.
Beijing’s Xinhua state news agency reported that around 800 people were on standby for potential large-scale disaster relief efforts.
People sought refuge in the streets of Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, after the earthquake caused walls to shake and furniture to shift. Bohobek Azhikeev, head of the Kyrgyz Ministry for Emergency Situations, confirmed in a video message that no casualties or damage had been registered in Bishkek.
The earthquake occurred just after 2:00 am (1800 GMT Monday) at a depth of 13 kilometers. In the rural Wushi County near the epicenter, two residential houses and livestock sheds collapsed, temporarily causing a power outage. Three individuals in a nearby county were injured and subsequently hospitalised.
Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 earthquake #Earthquake #Almaty pic.twitter.com/yhCtdhC37V
— itshillary_boo 🇨🇫 (@moussa_hillary) January 23, 2024
Video footage circulated on Chinese social media depicted the intense shaking that caused household appliances to crash to the floor. State broadcaster CCTV shared additional footage showing firemen entering damaged buildings with cracked walls, and police assisting an injured local resident.
Residents in Aksu reported rushing outside for safety despite frigid early morning temperatures around -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit). In the Indian capital New Delhi, approximately 1,400 kilometers away, strong tremors were also reported.
The earthquake occurred a day after a landslide buried dozens of people, resulting in at least eight fatalities in southwest China.
