Major Quake Recorded in Western China

A major earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale occurred today in western China near the Soviet border in central Asia, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake was recorded at 5:42 a.m. PDT, and analysts located its epicenter in westernmost China, 80 miles north of Kashi in the Tien Shan Mountains.

Bruce Presgrave, a geophysicist with the agency, said the “fairly heavily populated” Soviet region of the Fergana Basin, including the city of Andizhan, lies near the quake’s epicenter.

The area, Presgrave said, is a “fairly active” region for earthquakes.

“Earthquakes of this magnitude are capable of causing serious damage in populated areas, but no reports of damage or injuries have been received so far,” he said.

Don Kelly, a spokesman for the survey, said this was the strongest earthquake anywhere in the world since the magnitude 7.8 quake that took at least 177 lives in Chile on March 3, 1985. The scientists at the center estimated the magnitude, he said.

A team of U.S. earthquake specialists was in China at the time of the latest quake, but they were in the eastern part of the country and could not be contacted immediately, Kelly said.