An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted southwest China's Sichuan Province at 00:04 AM Saturday, the national seismological network said.

The epicenter was located at the juncture of Shifang City and Pengzhou City, or 31.3 degrees north latitude and 103.9 degrees east longitude, with a depth of 21 km.

The tremor could be felt in the provincial capital of Chengdu, which is 70 km away from the epicenter, and there had been no report of casualties and losses, an official at the provincial earthquake administration said.

The official said the tremor was an aftershock of the devastating quake on May 12 last year. About 60,000 aftershocks had been recorded since the magnitude 8.0 earthquake, which left about 87,000 people dead or missing.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2009)