BEIJING - AN EARTHQUAKE in a sparsely populated region of south-west China killed one person, injured hundreds and flattened more than 10,000 houses, an official and state media said on Friday
A government relief official in Yao'an county, a mountainous area of Yunnan where the quake hit, told AFP by phone that one person had died and 328 were injured.
The US Geological Survey said the 5.7-magnitude quake struck at 7.19pm (1119 GMT, 7.19pm Singapore time) on Thursday at a shallow depth of 10km in Yunnan province.
Initial reports did not indicate any deaths as a result of the quake, but Xinhua said more than 300 people were injured. Thirty people with serious injuries were being treated at the People's Hospital of Yao'an. Around 30,000 buildings were also damaged, Xinhua said, while 10,000 homes were destroyed, citing local officials.
The authorities in Yunnan dispatched thousands of tents, quilts and other aid supplies to a nearby relief agency headquarters, the report said, with more than 600 police officers sent to the quake zone.
Medicine and food were also being distributed, it said. Up to eight smaller aftershocks occurred after the initial quake, Xinhua said, with strong tremors felt in several areas including Chuxiong, Lijiang City, Kunming and Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. People gathered outdoors fearing further aftershocks, Xinhua reported.
The quake came a year after nearly 87,000 people were left dead or missing when a massive 8.0 magnitude earthquake shook Sichuan province in China's mountainous southwest in May 2008. The May 12 earthquake in the southwest Sichuan province left 375,000 injured, over five million homeless and up to 1.5 million people displaced.
The deadliest earthquake to strike China in over 30 years flattened entire cities and towns, while destroying schools, hospitals, homes, buildings and factories in nearly 50,000 villages.
Around 7,000 schools collapsed in that earthquake as neighbouring buildings stood intact, leading to the death of thousands of children and causing huge anger among grieving parents who blamed poorly constructed buildings.
South-west China is part of the boundary between two of the Earth's tectonic plates, the Indian and Asian plates, whose constant collision has created the Himalayan mountains and Tibetan plateau. -- AFP
