A strong earthquake that jolted Yopurga County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, on Sunday has caused the death of an old person and slightly injured three others.

The old person died of heart disease as a result of the quake that hit Yopurga at 11:44 p.m. Sunday, local sources said Monday.

The quake, which measured 5.8 degrees on the Richter scale, was 10 km to the south of the epicenter of the Feb. 24 earthquake of 6.8 degrees on the Richter scale that shook Jiashi and Bachu counties.

Sunday's quake flattened more than 1,600 rooms, damaged another 2,400 rooms and killed over 1,000 heads of livestock, according to the regional seismological bureau.

The bureau has sent a working group to the quake-hit area to deal with the aftermath of the disaster.

The Feb. 24 quake claimed the lives of 268 people and injured more than 4,000. It also killed about 60,000 heads of livestock and flattened 8,000 rooms.

(Xinhua News Agency May 5, 2003)