Military

DATE=08/17/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CHINA EARTHQUAKE S & L

NUMBER=2-306561

BYLINE=CELIA HATTON

DATELINE=BEIJING

CONTENT=

INTRO: Scores of aftershocks were felt after a strong earthquake hit China's remote northern province of Inner Mongolia Saturday. Two people were killed and thousands of homes destroyed. Celia Hatton has the story from Beijing.

TEXT: /// CCTV NEWS REPORT (Chinese), FADE ///

Chinese television Sunday was rife with reports of the aftermath of an earthquake that hit the northern province of Inner Mongolia, killing two people on Saturday evening.

The quake measured at five-point-nine on the Richter Scale and struck between the rural towns of Bairin Zuoqi and Ar Horqin Qi. Tremors could be felt 500 kilometers to the south in Beijing.

A local seismological official says it is the most serious earthquake to hit the region in 700 years.

Some 27-hundred homes have been destroyed and 56 people injured.

At least 60 aftershocks have been felt since the Saturday evening quake.

/// REST OPT ///

Local officials reported many survivors slept outside, afraid that they might be hit by falling debris from damaged buildings.

The Chinese government has dispatched a team to assess the full extent of the damage.

Inner Mongolia is a province that spans more than 21-hundred kilometers in northeastern China. Most of the people who were affected by Saturday's quake are herdsmen and rural farmers.

Residents in some of the affected towns could be in for foul weather. Local weather reports project heavy rains to hit the town of Ar Horqin Qi on Sunday evening. (Signed)

NEB/HK/CH/JO/KBK