Strong and shallow M6.4 earthquake hits Xinjiang-Xizang border region, China
Image credit: TW/SAM, Google
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.4 hit the Xinjiang-Xizang border region, China at 21:05 UTC on June 25, 2020 (05:05 LT, June 26). The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.4 at a depth of 2 km (1.2 miles).
The epicenter was located 279.2 km (173.1 miles) SE of Hotan and 378 km (234.3 miles) ESE of Zangguy, China.
There are about 9 000 people living within 100 km (62 miles).
1 000 people are estimated to have felt strong shaking and 3 000 moderate.

Image credit: TW/SAM, Google
The USGS issued a green alert for shaking-related fatalities and yellow for economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties, but some damage is possible.
Estimated economic losses are less than 1% of GDP of China. Past events with this alert level have required a local or regional level response.
Estimated population exposure to earthquake shaking


Selected cities exposed

Regional seismicity

Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
Published in the last 24 hours
- Hawaii's largest freshwater lake was 200 feet deep at 10 a.m. on June 2, 2018. By that afternoon, lava from Kilauea had boiled it away Epicenter
- Flying glass cut a teacher in Russia but none of her 44 pupils, because when a meteor flashed across the sky in 2013, she told them to get under their desks Epicenter
- A South Dakota man put the widest and heaviest hailstone on US record in his freezer, and a power cut melted part of it before NOAA measured it at 8 inches across and nearly 2 pounds in 2010 Epicenter
- Black kites and brown falcons in northern Australia have been seen snatching smoldering sticks from wildfires, flying them into unburned grass and dropping them, starting new fires that send lizards, rodents and insects running straight toward the waiting birds Epicenter

