URUMQI -- A total of 158 people had been moved to safety as of Friday evening, after a 5.0-magnitude earthquake struck a county in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region Thursday night, local authorities said.

Local civil affairs authorities said cracks appeared in 311 old houses.Among them, 87 were seriously damaged and five collapsed.

The tremor jolted Xinyuan County at 9:10 pm on Thursday at a depth of 8 km. The epicenter was 59 km away from the county seat.

No casualties had been reported as of 5 pm. About 1,800 public servants at various levels have been summoned to relocate residents, ease panic and raise relief materials, local sources said.