Visitors gaze upon a monument to the Tangshan earthquake in Tangshan, Hebei Province, July 27. Photo: Li Hao/GT

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake, which is believed to be an aftershock of the 7.8-manitude devastating earthquake in 1976, hit Tangshan, North China's Hebei Province at 6:38 am Beijing time on Sunday, causing no casualty and no major damage so far. 

The epicenter, with a focal depth of 10 kilometers, was 28 kilometers from the center of Tangshan city, 130 kilometers from Tianjin and 180 kilometers from Beijing. Seventeen earthquakes of magnitude three or above have occurred in the past five years within 200 kilometers of the epicenter, and the latest was the biggest, said the China Earthquake Networks Center on Sunday.

Many people said online they were woken from their sleep by the earthquake and could clearly feel the tremors. Clips from Pear Video showed items from some supermarkets scattered on the floor, while mirrors on the walls in some residents' homes were shattered.

Tremors were also felt by many in nearby Beijing and Tianjin.

Local authorities said Sunday morning that at least two rescue teams had been dispatched to areas near the epicenter in Guye district. Dozens of seismologists dispatched by earthquake agencies have arrived at Tangshan from neighboring provincial regions like Beijing, Tianjin and Shanxi. 

Moreover, Hebei Province has raised the emergency response to level III after the earthquake.

No casualties have been reported so far, and traffic conditions are still good. Few houses were destroyed by the earthquake, although some cracks appeared on the walls of some old houses, media reported.

An industrial city in an earthquake zone, Tangshan was flattened by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in 1976, leaving numerous buildings and railway bridges damaged and killing at least 240,000 people.

The quake was an aftershock of the 1976 event. "The Earth's crust movement in Tangshan is relatively active, and the latest earthquake was a fluctuation in the normal range," an employee at the Tangshan Emergency Response Management Bureau, who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Sunday. 

The Hebei Earthquake Agency said that 33 aftershocks were detected in Tangshan as of 10 am Sunday. "Aftershocks are very likely to continue on Monday and Tuesday, but they will be minor," said the staff.

No abnormity was found anywhere in Tangshan based on the bureau's data, said the staff, and "it is unlikely that an earthquake above 5.0-magnitude will occur in the near future in the original earthquake area."

The Institute of Disaster Prevention affiliated to China's Earthquake Administration said on Sina Weibo that magnitude-5.1 intensity is within the seismic fortification of buildings in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and it basically does not cause any structural damage.

The Beijing Earthquake Agency announced on Sunday that the earthquake will not have a significant impact on the crustal stress strain and seismic activity in Beijing.

The railway authority in Beijing immediately activated an emergency response to temporarily halt trains passing Tangshan via Beijing and started checking rail facilities. 

The railway traffic was restored after safety check several hours later, reported the China National Radio on Sunday.

Some netizens in Tianjin and Beijing said that the tremor was clearly felt after a televised earthquake warning and countdown.  

Wang Tun, head of the Sichuan-based Institute of Care-life, developer of the country's earthquake early warning system, told the Global Times on Sunday that Tangshan had a three-second pre-earthquake warning, while Tianjin was given a 33-second warning. Residents in the area near the epicenter received early warnings of the quake on their mobile phones and TVs.

According to data from China's earthquake early warning system provided by Wang, an area of about 1,952 square kilometers, with a population of about 1.56 million, felt obvious tremors. 

Wang Zhe, a 26-year-old Tangshan resident reached by the Global Times, said that everything is fine  at his home and people he knows in the city were not seriously affected. "Our apartment is strong, and the lights flickered for a few seconds when the earthquake came." 

According to Wang, he has experienced earthquakes a dozen times. "When I was in high school, I experienced an earthquake but initially, I thought my classmate in front of me was shaking his chair."

"The correct response to earthquakes is to be vigilant and avoid panic," he said.
Newspaper headline: 5.1-mag tremor jolts Tangshan