No casualties or property losses have been reported after an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter Scale hit the sparsely-populated Hami Prefecture in the remote Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China early Monday, local authorities said.

The quake struck at 12:03 a.m., with the epicenter at 41.9 degrees north and 94.5 degrees east, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

"The epicenter was about 130 km southeast of Hami City, and the quake was strongly felt here," a spokesman with the Hami municipal government said.

The quake led to technical failures at a railway station, and train services were suspended for three hours, he said.

The city government had dispatched emergency staff to investigate damage to residential communities and mines along the railway line, but they had found no casualties or property losses, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 14, 2009)