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336 injured in SW China 6.0-mag quake

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-10 00:04

KUNMING: A total of 336 people were injured and more than 2,700 houses were damaged in a 6.0-magnitude earthquake that hit southwest China's Yunnan Province Thursday evening, local authorities said.

Among the victims, 56 suffered severe injuries as of 9:40 p.m., said the quake-relief headquarters in Yao'an County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

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The quake occurred at 7:19 p.m., at a depth of about 10 kilometers, with the epicenter in the county's Guantun Township, about 200 km from the provincial city of Kunming, said the China National Seismological Network.

The quake was followed by eight aftershocks measuring 3 to 4.1, three centered in Yao'an and the other five centered in the neighbouring Dayao County. The latest aftershock occurred at 11:09 p.m. in Yao'an, at a depth of 14 kilometers, the network said.

A staff member at the county's Communist Party committee office said he saw no houses collapse in the county seat, about 16 kilometers from Guantun.

Strong tremors were felt in Chuxiong, Lijiang City, Kunming and Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture.

Meanwhile, the civil affairs department of the Yunnan Province has allocated 2,500 tents, 3,000 quilts and other relief materials to Yao'an, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Thursday night.

Two working teams, one headed by the Yunnan governor Qin Guangrong, and another from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the National Commission for Disaster Reduction, are en route to the epicenter.