At least one dead as quake hits Guangxi city

At least one man was confirmed dead and five people were said to be injured in outlying areas after a magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck Jingxi, a county-level city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, at 9:18 am on Monday.

As of 2 pm, the injured had been hospitalized. All were reported to be in stable condition.

The epicenter was 10 kilometers deep in an area bordering Vietnam. A number of border areas felt the quake, including 57 kilometers away in Chongzuo's Daxin county, where the casualties were reported. A tremor was also felt in Nanning, the regional capital, according to media reports.

The dead man, in his 40s, was a worker at a local manganese production company. He was hit by falling rocks on the job, according to Chongzuo authorities. The company suspended production and evacuated workers.

No casualties or house collapses were reported in Jingxi, a border city, local authorities said.

Huang Tongwu, Party chief of Hurun town, the epicenter, said that fallen rocks were being cleared from the street by a crew organized by the local government.

"The earthquake created no chaos among residents, and we have evacuated students to flat areas to avoid the dangers of falling walls and landslides, which are the biggest challenge we're facing," Huang said.

The earthquake affected 695 households in the town, which continued to have no electrical power. The local government was working on that, Huang added.

The Baise municipal government sent three earthquake rescue teams, including 13 fire engines, 75 firefighters and three dogs for search and rescue work, Guangxi's emergency management office said.

As a precaution, China Railway's Nanning Group Co suspended operations on one railroad line and instructed trains to go slow on three others.

Experts at the provincial seismology bureau said that in the coming days, people shouldn't worry about a major destructive earthquake in the region, but there may be aftershocks.