The earthquake also rattled buildings in Beijing, some 930 miles to the north, less than three months before the Chinese capital was expected to be full of hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors for the Summer Olympics.

Li Jiulin, a top engineer on the 91,000-seat National Stadium — known as the Bird’s Nest and the jewel of the Olympics — was conducting an inspection at the venue when the quake occurred. He told reporters the building was designed to withstand a 8.0 quake.

“The Olympic venues were not affected by the earthquake,” said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing organising committee.

Other officials said the Three Gorges Dam was also unaffected.

Skyscrapers swayed in Shanghai and in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei.

Past Strikes

BEIJING:China’s worst earthquake was in July 1976, a 7.8 Richter temblor that killed at least 270,500 people in Tangshan. The other recent quakes are:

•May 12, 2008: An earthquake measuring 7.5 shakes China’s Sichuan province

•March 21, 2008: An earthquake measuring 7.2 hits the remote northwestern region of Xinjiang; damage was limited

•February 2003: At least 94 people are killed and more than 200 injured when a quake measuring 6.8 hits sparsely populated Jiashi county in

Xinjiang

•January 1998: At least 47 people are killed and more than 2,000 injured when an earthquake measuring 6.2 rocks Hebei, devastating mud and brick homes in two rural counties

•April 1997: A strong earthquake measuring 6.6 strikes Xinjiang, killing nine people and injuring 60.

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