Magnitude 7.3 Earthquake Strikes Central China

A 7.3-magnitude quake hit Southern Qinghai, China early Saturday. The quake was centered about 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep in central China, about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) north of an earlier quake.

US Geological Survey (USGS) geophysicist Jonathan Tytell said the agency expects “significant economic losses” and damage from the quake, but that it's centered in a mostly rural area.

There were no immediate reports of deaths.

On Friday night, another strong, shallow earthquake shook an area of southwestern China near Myanmar, causing at least one death.

The two quakes were not related, Tytell said.

The US Geological Survey said that the magnitude 6.1 quake was centered 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the surface northwest of the city of Dali, a scenic area in Yunnan province.

Shallow quakes often cause more damage on the Earth's surface, especially in populated areas.

The earthquake caused strong shaking around Dali but Chinese news reports showed relatively little damage.

The Yunnan seismological bureau said it received a report of one death and six injuries in the Dali area. It gave the magnitude of the quake as 6.4 and said it struck 8 kilometers (5 miles) below the surface.

The area experiences frequent seismic activity. In 2020, a magnitude 5 earthquake in Yunnan killed four people and injured 23, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

China's worst earthquake in recent years struck the mountainous western portion of Sichuan province to the north of Yunnan in 2008, killing nearly 90,000 people.