9 Dead, More Than 20 Injured in Western China Quake

At least nine people have died and more than 20 got injured after a 5.5-magnitude earthquake hit western China on Thursday, according to the state-owned Xinhua News Agency.

The quake struck Taxkorgan county, a remote mountainous area in China's Xinjiang region that borders the countries of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, on Thursday morning.

According to the Xinjiang Earthquake Administration, 23 people have been injured, with one in critical condition, and more than 180 houses had collapsed in the lightly populated area.

The earthquake has affected more than 12,000 people, and an estimated 9,200 people have been evacuated to safety, Xinhua reported.

The damaged homes were built mostly out of wood, mud bricks and rock, the agency said, adding that search and rescue operations were underway.

Photos from local news sources showing the extent of the damage were widely circulated online. The Twitter account of the People's Daily, China's largest state-owned newspaper, posted images of ruined buildings and products scattered on the ground in a grocery store.

The U.S. Geological Survey said that the earthquake struck at a depth of 10 km at 5:50 a.m. on Thursday. The shallow depth has led to greater shaking at the surface and increased damage.

Taxkorgan county has a population of approximately 33,000 and is a major stop on the Karakoram Highway, built along the ancient Silk Road linking China's far western city of Kashgar to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

Xinhua said there had been frequent aftershocks following the quake.

Earthquakes are a common occurrence in western China, although the sparse population in the region often means minimal damage to infrastructure and low casualty figures.

In 2003, a 6.8-magnitude quake in a neighboring county killed 268 people.

China's deadliest earthquake in recent history occurred in Sichuan Province in May 2008, reaching a magnitude of 7.9 in the Richter scale and killing nearly 90,000 people.