Strong Earthquake Shakes Chinese Desert

A strong earthquake shook the western China desert Monday while aftershocks from another powerful quake jolted remote areas in Tibet, government seismologists said.

No casualties have been reported. Seismologists in Beijing and Tibet said deaths and injuries are unlikely because the quakes and aftershocks all occurred in sparsely populated areas.

The earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1, rocked western Xinjiang region’s Qiemo county on the fringes of the Taklamakan desert, 1,500 miles west of Beijing.

The epicenter was about 200 miles north of a magnitude 7.5 quake that hit northern Tibet’s Nagqu prefecture Saturday.