A HUGE earthquake has struck south-central China, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGC).
The USGS initially reported the earthquake as a 6.7 magnitude but it was later downgraded to 6.3.
The quake hit approximately 36 miles (58km) from China’s Nyingchi prefecture – an administrative division ranking below a province and above a county – which has a population of almost 200,000 people.
It hit the Tibetan area, which is one of the most seismically active spots on the planet.
The quake’s epicenter was within 150 miles (240 km) of the Indian towns of Along, Pasighat and Tezu, according to the USGS.
The 6.3 magnitude earthquake was measured 10 kilometres in depth.
No reports of any damage or injuries have emerged so far.
The same region was then shaken by a 5.1 magnitude earthquake a couple of hours later.
And approximately two hours afterwards, the nearby township of Zhamog was hit by a 4.1 magnitude quake.
Southwestern parts of China are often hit by earthquakes. In 2008, a huge quake in China’s Sichuan province killed nearly 70,000 people.
The news has come after a massive 7.3-magnitude earthquake last week killed at least 450 people and injured thousands more after it struck southeast of the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, near the border with Iran.
The head of the Irani Kermanshah’s emergency department said at least 93 people were killed in Iran and 1,000 others injured.
Meanwhile in Iraq at least 6 people are dead and more than 500 injured, according to the Joint Crisis Coordination Centre of the Kurdish government.
Some social media users in Israel, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also reported feeling tremors.
According to the USGC, up to 70.4million people would have felt Sunday’s earthquake, including 239,000 who may have experience “very strong” to “severe” shaking.
More than 97 of the victims were reportedly from the town of Sarpol-e Zahab in Kermanshah, about 15 km (10 miles) from the Iraq border.
Many houses in rural parts of the Kermanshah province are made of mud bricks and are known to crumble easily in quake-prone Iran.