No casualties, damages reported after 5.8-magnitude earthquake hits NW China's Qinghai

XINING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- No casualties or property damages have been reported so far after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted the city of Delingha in northwest China's Qinghai Province on Sunday, local authorities said Monday.

The earthquake took place at 10:21 a.m. Sunday (Beijing Time), with its epicenter in an extremely sparsely populated area to the northwest of Hala Lake, some 119 km from downtown Delingha and 439 km from the provincial capital Xining.

Emergency inspections have been launched across the city, and no signs of casualties or damages caused by the earthquake have been found so far, said Wang Shaochun, head of the city's emergency management bureau.

Water and gas supplies have not been affected, and other public facilities continue to function normally, Wang added.