Emergency response initiated for northeast quakes

BEIJING - The Chinese central authorities on Saturday initiated an emergency disaster relief response for Northeast China's Jilin province after three earthquakes measuring 5.0 or greater in magnitude jolted the area.

Expert teams and disaster-relief materials have been sent to the quake-hit areas, said the National Commission for Disaster Reduction and

A 5.3-magnitude quake hit the Qian Gorlos Mongol Autonomous County and its border with Qian'an county at 4:18 pm on Friday.

On Saturday, a 5.8-magnitude quake hit the area at 6:04 am, followed by another 5.0-magnitude quake at 6:32 am.

No casualties have been reported so far. A total of 260,000 families in 125 villages in the two counties have been affected by the quakes, and 45,000 people have been relocated.

The quakes have caused the collapse of 310 apartment units and have seriously damaged 16,000 houses, causing direct economic losses of 2 billion yuan, according to the civil affairs department of Jilin province.