Also, a number of dilapidated houses collapsed in Golmud, the province's second largest city and a main station on the Qinghai-Tibet railway, but there are no reports of any injuries, the website said.

Li Ning, who works for the railway's operating company, said: "We felt the quake, but the railway was completely unaffected."

Golmud is located about 160 km from the epicenter.

Although there was some disruption to the electricity and water supplies in Da Qaidam, repair work is already under way, the government said on its website.

Gu Xiaodong, an administrative official from Da Qaidam, said all schools in the town had been closed for the day as a safety precaution, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, Novmeber 11, 2008)