An earthquake which hit Tajikistan on Monday was felt in the south of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China. No casualties were reported.

The 7.4-magnitude earthquake occurred at 15:50 and had a focal depth of 30 kilometers, said the China Earthquake Network Center.

Surveillance footage from various locations in Xinjiang showed residents rushed out of buildings to open spaces as the quake began. In Kashgar, border patrol officers responded to a winter grazing site where more than 20 houses and sheepfolds were damaged. No personnel or livestock injuries were reported.

As of 21:00, the state seismology bureau has since monitored 15 aftershocks above 3 magnitude, with the biggest being recorded at 5.4.

Xinjiang's Seismology Bureau also detected a 5.2 magnitude quake in Kyrghyzstan some 40 minutes after the initial Tajikistan quake.

"These sorts of earthquakes are a seismic response. Usually after a 7-magnitude quake, the stress in surrounding areas is readjusted, which causes some disturbance to surrounding faults," explained researcher Wang Qiong.

The seismology bureau is currently investigating the development of the quake and will continue to monitor the situation.

"For a 7-magnitude quake, we usually track it for six months up to even one year. Because the nature of the focus differs in different regions, therefore the duration of aftershocks differ from one another also,” said Wang.
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