KUNMING,
China
-- (BBC Monitoring) Text of report in English by official Chinese
news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)
An earthquake
measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale jolted Wuding County in southwest
China's Yunnan Province at 2125 Beijing Time.
According
to local sources, the epicentre is located at 25.50 degrees north
latitude and 102.14 degrees east longitude.
No death and
damages were reported yet.
ATHENS,
Greece (AP) - A moderate earthquake rattled islands in the
central Aegean Sea on Tuesday, but there were no reports of injuries
or damage.
The Athens
Geodynamic Institute said the undersea quake had a preliminary
magnitude of 4.9 and occurred at 6:35 a.m. about 115 miles north
of Athens near the Northern Sporades island group.
GENOA,
Italy (AP) — Earthquakes rattled northwestern Italy Monday,
leading authorities to rope off medieval buildings and order scattered
evacuations for fear of collapses. No injuries were reported.
The strongest
struck at 7:14 p.m. with a magnitude of 4.8, jarring a bell tower
of the town of Solero off its axis. Town leaders in tiny Fubine
closed off the community's historical center.
Other reported
damage was limited to the partial collapse of one uninhabited
house, cornices toppling off some buildings and wide cracks appearing
in others.
Authorities
in towns throughout the region closed off buildings deemed in
danger of collapse. Officials in Asti opened a gym for people
forced from their homes, and the Red Cross was readying a small
tent city with field hospital in case it was needed.
The biggest
quake was centered about 30 miles northwest of the northwest port
city of Genoa, according to readings at the U.S. Geological Survey
in Colorado. At least two smaller jolts were felt in the morning.
Seismologists
classify earthquakes below 5.0 as light. A 5.5 quake hit Italy's
central hill towns in 1997, devastating medieval buildings and
killing 10 people.
ANKARA,
Turkey (AP) _ A moderate earthquake shook central Turkey on
Tuesday, damaging some 50 buildings in a small town outside the
capital of Ankara. No injuries were reported, but several people
were taken to hospital suffering from shock or after fainting,
the Anatolia news agency said.
The quake,
with a preliminary magnitude of 4.3, struck at 2:40 p.m., according
to Istanbul"s Kandilli observatory. It was centered near
the town of Beypazari, some 40 miles northwest of Ankara and was
felt in the capital. Turkey"s Red Crescent sent 50 tents
and 100 blankets as shelter for the inhabitants of the damaged
homes. The temblor caused cracks in some 50 buildings, including
schools, Anatolia quoted local officials as saying.
The quake
occurred five days after the first anniversary of an earthquake
that killed 17,000 in northwestern Turkey. A separate quake in
November killed about 1,000 people in the region. Much of northern
Turkey sits on the active Anatolian fault line.
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