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Death toll from magnitude-6.1 quake in SW China jumps to 28
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-31 21:05 PANZHIHUA -- Three more deaths were reported Sunday in Huili county, Sichuan Province, bringing the death toll of Saturday's 6.1-magnitude quake to 28.
Another 362 were injured with three missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said, citing figures from the civil affairs departments of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. The three were missing in Huili, which falls under the jurisdiction of Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Liangshan, a neighbor of Panzhihua City, the epicenter of the quake, according to Huili County Headquarters of Quake Control and Relief. No details were available about the three dead persons. The quake struck the juncture of Renhe District in Panzhihua and Huili County in Liangshan prefecture at 4:30 p.m.(Beijing time). The epicenter was about 50 km southeast of downtown Panzhihua, at 26.2 degrees north latitude and 101.9 degrees east longitude. It was at a depth of 10 km, the China Earthquake Administration said. Quake impact and damage Areas affected by the quake were Panzhihua, Huili of Liangshan, both in Sichuan, and Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Chuxiong, Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Dali, Lijiang and Zhaotong cities, all in Yunnan Province. Kunming, the Yunnan capital, was also hit. Most of the fatalities, however, were in Huili, followed by Chuxiong and Panzhihua. All three areas are on the southern end of the fault line of the May 12 quake that left 69,226 people dead, 17,923 missing and 374,643 others injured. Another 6.0-plus magnitude quake, however, was not expected in the area in the next two weeks, said Liu Jie, chief forecaster of the Beijing-based Chinese Seismographic Information Center, on Saturday. |