6.4 QUAKE HITS NORTHERN CHINA; 14 DEAD.

Byline: Associated Press

A powerful earthquake shook northern China on Friday, toppling dozens of houses and killing at least 14 people.

At least 226 people were injured by the 6.4-magnitude quake centered north of the Inner Mongolian city of Baotou, about 340 miles northwest of Beijing, officials said.

The government rushed hundreds of rescue workers to the area, which continued to be hit by aftershocks hours after the initial quake, said an official of the State Seismological Bureau, who identified himself only by his surname, Tan.

The earthquake was felt in much of northern China, including Beijing, where high-rise buildings swayed perceptibly. Dozens of old one-story houses collapsed near the epicenter, the seismological bureau said.

Baotou, a city of more than 1.3 million people, is a major railway artery and commercial center on the Yellow River. It is also a key industrial city, with major iron, steel, cement and textile factories.

``Chairs and lights were shaking,'' said Wu Xiuzhi, an official in the Inner Mongolian provincial capital of Hohhot, about 94 miles east of the quake's epicenter. She said no casualties were reported in the city.

It was the third major tremor to strike China this year, following quakes in southwestern Yunnan and in northwestern Xinjiang.

The magnitude-7 Yunnan quake, which hit Feb. 3, killed at least 304 people and left 3,775 people seriously injured. The magnitude-6.9 quake that struck March 19 in Xinjiang, a much less densely populated area, killed 24 people and injured 40.