20 injured in SW China earthquake

KUNMING - Twenty people were injured after an earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted Yongshan County in southwest China's Yunnan Province at 6:07 a.m. on Sunday, local authorities said.

Nine of them were slightly injured. Of the 11 who had been sent to county hospitals for medical treatment, five had been discharged, according to a latest statement of the county government.

Six injured in SW China earthquake

The epicenter was in Wuji Township, 21 kilometers from the county seat. The source of the quake was 7 km deep.

The quake was strongly felt in the neighboring counties of Suijiang, Daguan and Zhenxiong as well as the Zhaoyang District of Zhaotong City, which administers Yongshan, according to the provincial seismological bureau.

And 1,463 houses were damaged as of 5:30 p.m., with 45 houses collapsed and 575 badly damaged. Cracks have been spotted in adobe houses and more than 76 cattle lots collapsed,said the statement.

The facilities of 14 schools were damaged, it said.

Diaster investigators have also found 70 km of roads,11 transformers, 32 water utilities, 59 km of canals and 135 km of drinking water pipeline damaged. They spotted 542 highway landslides and the facilities of 14 schools were ravaged by different degrees.

More than 1,000 local officials, policemen and militia personnel have joined rescue efforts and disaster investigations in the affected regions.

About 200 firefighters from various cities have arrived in Yongshan for rescue.

Relief materails including tents, quilts, coats, rice, edible oil, instant noodles and biscuits have beeen supplied to the victims.

Some 647 people have been safely evacuated while 721 households have regained access to electricity, said the statement.

Yunnan governor Li Jiheng led a work team to Yongshan from Ludian, also a county in Zhaotong City, where a 6.5-magnitude earthquake on Aug. 3 killed more than 600 people and destroyed 80,000 homes.

The Yongshan earthquake is not an aftershock of the Ludian earthquake as the epicenters of the two quakes are 113 km away from each other, said Zhang Junwei, an official with the provincial seismological bureau.