Confusion, warnings in Beijing following earthquake
Posted: 12 May 2008 1649 hrs

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BEIJING - China's seismology authority on Monday denied issuing a warning that a strong earthquake could strike Beijing in the evening, following a major quake in the country's southwest.

"We have issued no such warning," Li Qianghua, a top official at the China Earthquake Bureau, was quoted as saying by the government's main website.

The People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's main mouthpiece, had reported earlier on its website that a quake measuring between two and six on the Richter scale could hit Beijing late Monday.

That warning came shortly after a 7.8 magnitude quake far to the south in Sichuan province also was felt in Beijing.

Residents of the capital had been warned to take unspecified precautions.

The earlier warning had said the quake could hit at between 10:00 pm (0200 GMT) and midnight (0400 GMT) Monday.

But Li called that report "false."

AFP could not get through to the earthquake administration directly by phone.

The Sichuan quake caused buildings in Beijing, 1,500 kilometres away, to sway and forced hordes of office workers to flee buildings. - AFP/ir