A 6.3-magnitude shallow earthquake struck a remote, sparsely populated area in northwestern China early on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

The quake was registered at 05.07 a.m. local time (21:07 GMT on Friday) 151 kilometers (94 miles) southwest of the town of Shihezi in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, close to the border with Kazakhstan.

The epicenter was located at the depth of 9.8 km (6.1 miles) below the surface.

There have been no reports of victims or structural damage so far.

The 6.9-magnitude Yushu earthquake in the neighboring Qinghai province killed at least 2,700 people and injured 12,135 in 2010, while the 2011 Yunnan earthquake in the country's far southwest, which measured 5.4-magnitude, left a total of 26 people dead and 313 injured.