A 5.5-magnitude earthquake jolted China’s western province of Xinjiang today, damaging over 50 houses in the region, but no casualties were reported.

The quake hit Yutian County in the prefecture of Hotan at 11:27 p.m. (local time) last night.

The epicentre, with a depth of 6 km, was about 75 km from the county in the far western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

As many as 56 houses and 70 sheds for farm animals were damaged by the quake, disrupting the lives of 305 people of 76 families in the sparsely-populated Kunlun mountain areas, official Xinhua news agency reported.

More than 20 people were injured when a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit near the Xinjiang city of Kasghar on August 12.