A 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit Shiqu County in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze, southwest China's Sichuan Province, at 8:23 p.m. Wednesday Beijing Time, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

Qin Liuxin, deputy head of the emergency management bureau of Shiqu, said no casualties or collapsing houses were reported, and power and communication were not interrupted. Officials have been dispatched to evaluate the situations in villages and townships.

A citizen living in Shiqu told Xinhua over the phone that mild tremors were felt and the ceiling lamps were gently shaking during the quake.

The quake struck at a depth of 10 km. The local government said the epicenter is sparsely populated and has an average elevation of 4,661 meters in the surrounding areas.

The epicenter is 77 km from Shiqu, and 559 km from Chengdu, the provincial capital. The road transportation bureau of Garze said local traffic was not affected by the quake.

The provincial emergency management department has initiated a third-level emergency response and sent a working team to guide relief efforts in the affected area.