Abnormal aftershocks have occurred in Southwest China's Yunnan Province following Monday's earthquake which killed at least 16 people and injured another 584.

A medical worker explains disinfection method to villagers in an earthquake disaster area in Dayao County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Tuesday, July 23, 2003. Medical workers have headed to the disaster area to carry out epidemic prevention. [Xinhua]

The local seismological monitoring centre said there were more than 330 aftershocks, with the biggest one measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale, on Thursday in the province's mountainous Tanhua County. About 330 aftershocks took place Thursday noon.

An official at the centre, who wished to remain anonymous, refused to comment on the situation, telling China Daily that experts from the central and provincial governments have been busy analyzing the frequency of the aftershocks.

But a local civil affairs official said the frequency is abnormal.

"The aftershocks are too many and abnormal," said Zheng Jiawen, the civil affairs director of Dayao County.

Based on the data gathered, no major earthquake is likely to happen in the region in the near future because the intensity of the afterquakes is reducing, said Gu Guohua, senior researcher at the Analysis and Forecast Centre under the China Seismological Bureau.

"But it's still really difficult for us to predict earthquakes and aftershocks from a scientific point of view," said Gu.

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