Xinjiang Uygur earthquake left 34 injured

 A powerful 6.6-magnitude quake on Saturday jolted northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, including the provincial capital Urumqi, injuring 34 people and causing wide spread damage besides trapping 120 people in a landslide.

The earthquake, which hit a mountainous area along the border of Hejing and Xinyuan counties at 0507, toppled 104 houses and damaged 4,735 others, the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC) said.

Strong tremors were felt widely in Urumqi and in the region, shaking residents out of their beds and causing temporary power blackouts. The epicenter was found to be in a mountainous area along the border of Hejing and Xinyuan counties, CENC said.

The China Earthquake Administration said on Saturday that the epicenter of the earthquake lies near the border of the autonomous districts of Ili Kazakh and Bayingol Mongolia in northern Uygur.The focus was only 7-kilometers deep.Strong tremors were felt in Urumqi, about 200 kilometers east of the epicenter.
Footage of China's state-run Xinhua News Agency shows people running away from their condominiums.

The quake also triggered landslides and caused cave-ins on several national and regional highways in Xinjiang, bringing traffic to a halt.

A landslide on National Highway 217 has trapped 120 people, the CENC said. Local authorities earlier reported that the quake also destroyed several animal holding pens, killing hundreds of cattle, state-run news agency reported.The CENC has launched a level-three emergency response following the quake.The Ministry of Civil Affairs has dispatched 2,500 tents and 12,500 quilts to quake-hit areas.