At least five people died and 11 were
seriously injured after an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale hit
part of south-western China's Sichuan province on Saturday, the government and
state media said.
The epicentre of the quake was about 50 kilometres south-east of Sichuan's Panzhihua city at a depth of about 10 kilometres, the State Seismological Bureau said.
It said the area affected by the quake, which struck at 4:30 pm Saturday (1030
GMT), had a population density of about 118 people per square kilometre and was
on Sichuan's border with Yunnan province.
Three deaths and the 11 seriously injured were reported in Yunnan's Chuxiong
district, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The quake was felt in both provincial capitals, prompting many people to remain
outdoors on Saturday evening for fear of aftershocks, the agency said.
Several rural counties in Sichuan and Yunnan reported damaged houses.
"Locals in the county rushed out into the open," it quoted Zheng
Zhouwei, an official in Yunnan's Yongren county, as saying.
"Cracks appeared on house walls and many windows were broken," Zheng
said.
Officials and emergency workers had travelled to the area to assess the full
impact of the quake and help those affected, reports said.
Sichuan was hit by a devastating earthquake that killed more than 70,000 people
on May 12 and thousands of aftershocks have shaken parts of the province since
then, dpa reported.
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