On Jan 23 at 2:00 a.m. local time, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the mountainous western Xinjiang region of China, leading to three deaths and 120 damaged buildings, including 47 collapsed houses. An additional five were injured, with two of these being severe. 

The earthquake was originally reported as 7.0 magnitude, with seismologists revising the reported magnitude after reviewing data. 

The quake’s epicenter was in a sparsely inhabited mountainous region, with five villages in a 20-kilometer (12.4 mile) radius. Heavy tremors were felt in cities hundreds of miles away and in other countries, with crowds taking shelter outside due to falling lights and similar earthquake effects. 

The primary residents of rural western Xianjing are Uyghurs, an ethnic minority in China that have been targeted by the government, including placement in mass detention and restrictions on religious and cultural practices. 

“This 7.1 rating is very strong, but the death and injury situation is not severe,” Zhang Yongjiu, the head of the Xinjiang Earthquake Administration, told a news conference.

Immediate effects of the earthquake included downed power lines which authorities reported as quickly repaired, and train stoppages. Effects of the earthquake were also felt in Kazakhstan, 

with 44 reported injured in the country’s largest city, Almaty. 

1,000 rescuers were dispatched to the epicenter, tasked with searching for survivors and setting up temporary shelters to protect 12,000 displaced people from impending cold temperatures. Temperatures are expected to reach -9.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the next three days. This cold weather and the general destruction are expected to cause a rise in deaths. 

“I was … awoken by my wife and didn’t know what was wrong. I just wanted my family to evacuate safely,” local advertising company owner Liu Jinhua said. The man said he quickly fled his apartment “with his wife and kids in their pajamas as the quake shook their building.”

According to a state CCTV broadcaster, 1,104 aftershocks occurred before 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, with five registered as above 5.0 in magnitude. The largest registered aftershock had a magnitude of 5.7. 

Earthquakes are not rare in western China, with a 6.2 magnitude earthquake killing 151 as recently as December, the country’s deadliest earthquake since the one in 2008 that killed around 90,000. However, Tuesday’s 7.2 earthquake is tied for the largest quake experienced in the area in a century with a 1978 7.1 magnitude earthquake.