Beijing, Jan 10: An earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale damaged thousands of buildings in northwest China`s Gansu province but no casualties have been reported so far, the state media said on Wednesday.

The buildings, including about 2,000 houses, were damaged in the quake yesterday night, local officials said.

According to China`s earthquake monitoring network, the quake struck at 10:49 PM (8:19 PM IST) with its epicentre in Jingtai county.

Tremors were strongly felt in the surrounding counties and cities including Lanzhou, the provincial capital.

Several buildings collapsed, but local officials believe none of them were residential buildings, Xinhua news agency reported. Soon after the quake local officials sent rescue teams to the disaster-hit areas.