Moderate quake in E China has no big damage: official

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-07 06:43

FUZHOU -- The 4.4-magnitude earthquake that jolted east China's Fujian Province on Saturday resulted no big damage, said local authorities on Sunday.

The provincial earthquake bureau dispatched four teams of seismologist to townships and villages to assess the damages. In Chenxiang township, they found tiles falling from some houses.

Villagers said they didn't feel the earthquake while others heard noises like vehicles passing by and the tremor lasted for two to three seconds.

No casualties were reported yet.

According to China National Seismological Network, the quake at 9:36 a.m. Saturday was centered along the border between Xiamen City and Longhai County at 24.5 degrees north latitude and 117.9 degrees east longitude.

Seismologists have set up two mobile stations to beef up the monitoring.

China sees several earthquakes this year, with the latest a 3.6-magnitude earthquake hitting Jurong city of east China's Jiangsu province at 6:43 p.m. Sunday.

Nearly two months after the magnitude-8.0 quake which had left nearly 70,000 dead in southwest Sichuan province and its neighboring regions, China is engaged in the daunting task of rebuilding millions of homes.