Four people have been confirmed dead and 48 others injured in a 6.5-magnitude earthquake that struck northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Friday morning. The quake rocked Pishan County of Hotan Prefecture at 9:07 a.m., with the epicenter recorded at 37.6 degrees north latitude and 78.2 degrees east longitude, Xinhua quoted the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) as saying. The jolt, with a depth of 10 km, also demolished or damaged homes and disrupted communications, according to the prefecture committee of the Communist Party of China. Shortly after the quake, the area was hit by smaller tremors measuring between 3.0 and 4.6 magnitude, according to the CENC. An airport in Hotan has been closed, the China Earthquake Administration (CEA) said in a brief statement on its website, quoting reports from the local earthquake administration. The CEA issued a level-II emergency response to the quake.
