Deadly M5.5 earthquake hits Xinjiang, China

At least 8 people were found dead and many more were injured after a shallow earthquake hit Taxkorgan County of Kashi Prefecture in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on May 10, 2017.

The earthquake occurred at 21:58 UTC (05:58 local time on May 11), with China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) reporting a magnitude of 5.5 and a depth of 8 km. US Geological Survey (USGS) reported M5.4 at a depth of 10 km.

A special earthquake emergency response team was sent to Xinjiang, immediately after the China Earthquake Administration activated Level 3 emergency response for the disastrous event.

According to USGS, the quake's epicenter was located 44.6 km SSE of Kekeya'er Ke'erkezizu, China, 126.5 km ESE of Murghob, Tajikistan, and 210.6 km NNE of Shache, China. CENC placed the epicenter at 37.58 degrees north latitude and 75.25 degrees east longitude in the southeast part of the Pamir Plateau. About 580 people are living near the epicenter and 6200 within 50 km distance.

In its preliminary report, the Xinjiang Uyghur Seismological Bureau states that 180 houses were destroyed, 8 people were killed, more than 20 were injured and 789 affected by the May 10th earthquake. Many of the houses at the region were old, thus vulnerable in the case of an earthquake, and that was the main reason for the increased number of casualties, according to a China Network.