Two moderate earthquakes shook northwest China's Qinghai Province on Wednesday afternoon, but no casualties have been reported, according to the China National Seismological Network.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which links Xining, capital of Qinghai, and Lhasa, was not affected, a spokesman with the railway company said.

A 5.4-magnitude earthquake shook the Hol Xil Nature Reserve in Zhidoi County in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu at 1:23 PM, and another quake, measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, jolted the Tanggula Range in the Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Haixi at 4:12 PM.

The two epicenters are more than 250 km apart, according to the spokesman with the provincial seismological bureau.

Hol Xil is known as "no man's land" and the Tanggula region is sparsely populated.

The Hol Xil Nature Reserve, with an area of 45,000 square km and an average altitude of 5,000 meters, is home to wild yaks and endangered Tibetan antelopes.

"We have received no reports of dead or injured Tibetan antelopes and other wild animals," said Cega, director of the reserve administration.

"The quake was felt at all of the five wildlife-protection stations in the reserve. We're looking into whether it caused any damage," he said.

The population of Tibetan antelopes in Hol Xil had increased to 60,000 from less than 20,000 in 10 years, thanks to the improved environment and anti-poaching efforts, he said.

The Tanggula Range was hit by four quakes from June 9 to 10, all measuring at or above 5.0-magnitude. But no casualties were reported.

More than 70 quakes above five on the Richter scale had been reported in the Tanggula region since the 1970s, according to the Qinghai Seismological Bureau.

According to experts, the area was hit by quake clusters many times in history, and the recent tremors were also quake clusters.

The China Earthquake Administration has beefed up quake surveillance in the affected and neighboring areas.

An 8.0-magnitude quake centered on Wenchuan County, in the southwestern Sichuan Province, left more than 69,000 people dead and more than 17,000 missing after striking on May 12.

It was the worst earthquake since the 7.8-magnitude tremor in 1976 in Tangshan, northern Hebei Province, which claimed more than 240,000 lives.

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2008)