Residents of Linkou County in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province were roused from their sleep when a 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked northeast China past midnight on Saturday.

According to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC), an institution under the China Seismological Bureau, the epicenter of the earthquake was monitored near Mudanjiang at 12:22 in the morning on Saturday.

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The earthquake had a depth of 580 kilometers, the CENC said, and aftershocks were expected although it will be less violent than the main quake but can be strong enough to cause damage.

As of this posting, no reports on damages and injuries have been disclosed yet.

Last December, a 4.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Tacheng Prefecture in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, the CENC said.

Earthquakes are not something unusual in China as authorities said ground movement occur in the different parts of the country almost everyday although their intensity are usually not devastating.

The most recent devastating earthquake that rocked China was on August 3, 2014 in Ludian County, Yunnan Province. The 2014 Ludian earthquake killed 617 people and about 1,881 others were injured.

But the deadliest earthquake in China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake was the 7.9-magnitude quake that rocked Wenchuan County in Sichuan province on May 12, 2008.

The said earthquake killed 68,712 people and left 4.8 million people homeless. The Sichuan earthquake was also considered as the strongest since the 1950 Chayu earthquake.

The deadliest earthquake of all time in China took place on January 23, 1556 in Shaanxi. The said earthquake, which measured 8.0-magnitude, killed 830,000 people, official records showed.

TagsChina earthquake, China Earthquake Networks Center, China earthquake news