More than 28,000 people were affected after Friday's 5.2 magnitude earthquake in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local civil affairs authority said on February 21.

The quake occurred at the juncture of Kalpin and Akqi counties, in the Tianshan Mountains, late Friday afternoon. It is 35 km from the county seats of Kalpin and Akqi, and about 1,200 km from the region's capital Urumqi.

According to the preliminary calculation of the region's civil affairs bureau, 13,400 people in Kalpin suffered economic losses and 605 others were evacuated. The quake also damaged 4,009 houses, destroyed 182 others and caused a loss of more than 59 million yuan (US$8.6 million).

In the neighboring Akqi, 14,800 people had their livelihoods affected and more than 1,000 houses were damaged. The quake caused the farmers and herdsmen to lose about 44.65 million yuan. The damaged infrastructure in the county led to 15 million yuan in loss.

Experts and officials from the region's earthquake bureau and civil affairs bureau arrived at the stricken area Saturday afternoon. The rough mountainous terrain and poor communication hindered the disaster relief work, they said.

"The civil affairs bureau sent relief materials to the stricken area on Friday night and 40 tents have arrived," said Izaq, a regional civil affairs bureau official who was directing the relief work in the stricken area.

According to the local seismological network, a total of 117 aftershocks have jolted Akqi following the magnitude-5.2 earthquake.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2009)