Four dead after magnitude-6.1 quake jolts south west China

Beijing, Aug 30 (PTI) At least four people were killed
and several houses damaged on Saturday when a strong
earthquake with an intensity of 6.1 on the Richter scale
struck two provinces in the quake-prone south-west China.


One person was killed in Miyi county and another in
Lihui county in Sichuan Province and two others died in Yuanmo
County in the neighboring Yunnan Province where eight people
were also injured, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
was located about 50 km southeast of Panzhihua city, the
National Seismograph Network Centre said.

Aftershocks that are common phenomenon after strong
quakes also affected adjacent Huili county, in Sichuan, and
Yongren county, in Yunnan, according to the local
Seismological Bureau. Houses were damaged at both the
counties. However no casualties or destruction of property
were reported from the urban area of Panzhihua City.

"Locals in the county rushed out into the open. Cracks
appeared on house walls and many windows were broken," a local
legislator Zheng Zhouwei said.
Tremor was also experienced at Yunan's capital,
Kunming, which is about 300 km from the epicenter and
Sichuan's capital, Chengdu. Many residents were staying
outside their houses after the quake.
A severe 7.9 magnitude earthquake had earlier hit in
Sichuan province on May 12 that had left 70, 000 dead and five
million homeless.