A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale rocked Zhongba County, Xigaze prefecture in the southern area of Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region at 9:22 p.m. on Monday, but no casualties have been reported.

The epicenter was about 10 km underground at 31 degrees north and 83.6 degrees east, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

Zhongba County in the west of Xigaze has a population of 18,000. A county government worker said the quake was strongly felt in some townships and cracks had appeared in some buildings.

Local authorities are still assessing the situation in remote townships.

(China Daily/Xinhua August 26, 2008)