Eight people were injured, two of them seriously, after an earthquake of magnitude 5.2 on the Richter scale jolted Northwest China's Gansu Province at 10:35 am yesterday.

No deaths have been reported and rescue efforts are ongoing.

According to the State Seismological Bureau in Beijing, a joint work team has been sent to the quake-hit area by the bureau and local seismological department to investigate the damage.

More than 10 homes were destroyed and many walls developed cracks, local government sources said.

Relief materials, including tents offered by local civil departments, have arrived at the disaster area.

Water and electric supplies are still working normally, sources said.

On top of the earthquake, however, victims will have to deal with increasingly colder weather.

According to the province's meteorological observatory, temperatures at the site yesterday dipped to -2 C. In addition, a cold air front will hit most of the province next Monday or Tuesday with the mercury plummeting by as much as 5 to 6 C, the observatory said.

On top of that, the State Seismological Bureau also warned that slight after-shocks might occur in the following days.

The stricken-area, located in the remote southern province, is at a spot where three counties -- Minxian, Lintan and Zhuoni -- meet, the Gansu Provincial Seismological Bureau said.

This is not the first earthquake in the province this year. Last month two quakes which registered 5.8 and 6.1 on the Richter scale rumbled through Minle and Shandan counties in Gansu, left nine people dead and more than 43 others injured.

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