22 injured in 5.5-magnitude earthquake in China's Yunnan

KUNMING - Two people were severely injured and 20 slightly injured in a 5.5-magnitude earthquake that struck the county of Ninglang in Southwest China's Yunnan province at 3:02 pm on Sunday, local authorities said.

All the injured have received timely treatment and none suffered life-threatening injuries, the county information office said, adding that there are currently no reports of deaths or collapsed buildings.

The power and water supply and telecommunications service in the quake-hit areas are basically in normal operations, and the life of local residents is not severely affected, the office said.

But there are still some houses and roads and water conservancy facilities damaged to various degrees by the quake and the local government is checking the losses, it said.

The Yunnan provincial earthquake bureau has activated a Level III emergency response and sent a 23-member working team to the quake-hit region.

The epicenter was about 60 km away from the county seat of Ninglang in the city of Lijiang and 110 km from the Old Town of Lijiang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The earthquake struck at a depth of 10 km, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

Fifteen firefighters with four vehicles from the fire brigade in Ninglang arrived in a village of Yongning township at around 6:30 p.m., where local road traffic and telecommunications were undisrupted.

The rescue team went door-to-door to check the damage and coordinated with local government staff workers in evacuating local villagers to safe areas.

The provincial fire brigade has dispatched forces from the city of Lijiang and other neighboring regions to join in the quake relief efforts.