"A strong earthquake in a remote area of China's extreme west has killed at least one villager after a home collapsed," authorities said Saturday.

The seismological bureau of China's Xinjiang region said that "55 homes were damaged and 32 collapsed in an area bordering Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the quake that struck late Friday."

The government has sent emergency response workers and closed some of the railways in southern Xinjiang.

The US Geological Survey said "the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 and struck western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The USGS reported the quake as quite shallow, at a depth of 12 kilometres (7.5 miles)."
 
Most of the shallow earthquakes are more likely to cause damage in populated urban areas, but that area of the Xinjiang highland is largely rural.

China's earthquake monitoring agency said, "the quake epicentre was located in Akto county in Kizilsu Khirgiz Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, which is near the regional hub of Kashgar."

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BY M. DIVYA SRI