No casualties or damages have been reported in the 5.0-magnitude earthquake that hit northwest China's Qinghai Province early Monday, the provincial earthquake administration said.

The quake struck at 1:56 a.m. at 33.2 degrees north latitude and 92.2 degrees east longitude. A second quake, measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale, hit the same region at 5:44 a.m., said Fan Lanbao, vice director of the administration.

The epicenter of the quakes is Tanggula Mountain Range town in Golmud City of the Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Haixi, in the west of Qinghai.

The area on the border of Qinghai and Tibet Autonomous Region is sparsely populated with an average altitude of 5,000 meters above sea level, said Fan.

The provincial earthquake administration has sent an investigation team to the site.

Golmud is the starting point of the world's most elevated railway linking to Tibet.

Xinhua reporters from the Qinghai provincial bureau in Xining are on their way to the site.

(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2008)