No casualties have been reported after an earthquake registering 6.6 on the Richter scale jolted the Haixi Prefecture in Northwest China's Qinghai Province yesterday morning.

The earthquake rocked Dachaidan County in the prefecture at 8:48 am, Qinghai Seismological Bureau official Cao Jianjie told China Daily.

The epicenter of the earthquake was 200 kilometers northeast of Golmud, a large city in the province, Cao said.

Haixi Prefecture Seismological Bureau officials said the quake hit an uninhabited mountainous area the hardest and no injuries have been reported so far.

However, several mud and brick houses in Dachaidan County collapsed during the earthquake. Home to nearly 10,000 people, the county was 100 kilometers from the epicenter.

A team of a dozen seismological experts from the province and prefecture went to the earthquake zone yesterday to conduct investigations.

No big aftershocks are expected over the next few days.

Lying in an active earthquake belt, Qinghai has experienced several quakes above 5 on the Richter scale over the past few years.

But since the province is vastly deserted, the quakes have failed to cause heavy losses, Cao said.

(China Daily April 18, 2003)