The quake, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, hit Zhaosu county, with a population of 165,000, in the Xinjiang region near the border with Kazakhstan at 9.38 am (0138 GMT).

"An earthquake hit this morning. The shock was pretty strong," Zhang Gangqiang from the Zhaosu county seismological bureau told AFP.

A local official in the county, a mainly pastoral area populated by herdsmen, added: "In the county seat there was panic. Everyone ran out of their houses. There is damage to buildings.

"The lights were swinging, the whole place shook."

The Xinhua news agency said provisional investigations showed at least 10 people were dead and 34 injured while 700 houses had collapsed. Another 140 homes were said to be in danger of collapse.

Most of the deaths appeared to be in a special military-controlled zone on the border with Kazakhstan around 80 kilometres (49 miles) from the county seat.

"Ten people are confirmed dead and at least 710 homes have collapsed," an official, Wang Xiangti, at the border area worst-hit, told AFP.

"The leaders of the garrison have been sent to the mountain areas to see how badly the earthquake has affected that area."

A local civil affairs bureau official, a Kazak named Daoliti, said while temperatures in the region were freezing there was no snow on the ground and none forecast, aiding rescue efforts.

"The weather is good, there is no snow but it is very cold. It is -16 C," he said.

"Some 30 tents have been sent to the worst affected areas. Around 30 rescue workers have also been dispatched. Together with local rescue workers there are now around 200 people dealing with this.

"They are asking other areas to provide rescue materials such as food and tents."

He put the injury figure at at least 38.

Earthquakes regularly hit China's Tibetan plateau and Xinjiang region. They are also common in southwest Yunnan province and northern areas but are rare along the eastern seaboard.

Earlier this year, an earthquake in Muslim-majority Xinjiang left more than 260 people dead and thousands more injured.

The most deadly earthquake in modern Chinese history happened on July 28, 1976 in the northern city of Tangshan when a quake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale killed some 242,000 people.

Although China only takes up seven percent of the earth's landmass, it accounted for 33 percent of the world's major earthquakes of the 20th century.

TERRA.WIRE