Yunnan hit by another earthquake
PUBLISHED : Monday, 18 August, 2014, 5:36am
UPDATED : Monday, 18 August, 2014, 5:36am
Andrea Chen [email protected]
Rescue workers remove debris from a road after a rockfall in Yongshan county. Photo: ImagineChina
Yunnan province was struck by another earthquake yesterday morning, leaving more than a dozen people injured.
The quake struck Yongshan county, more than 100km from the epicentre of the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that claimed more than 600 lives in the province two weeks ago.
At least 19 people were hurt and 10 were treated in county hospitals, Xinhua reported yesterday.
The homes of 481 households were destroyed or damaged in the magnitude 5 quake, the report said.
The China Earthquake Networks Centre said the quake struck at 6.07am and the epicentre was in Wuji township.
The area was a densely populated rural region with many ageing timber buildings and a lack of earthquake-resistant structures, Li Fei, from the Yunnan provincial earthquake administration, told the China News Service.
People living in the area said they felt a strong short jolt when the quake hit and that they ran immediately to open areas, Xinhua reported.
About 50 km of roads, 41 km of tunnels and 21 km of power transmission lines were damaged in five townships, according to Xinhua.
The moderate earthquake was felt in neighbouring Sichuan , with many residents posting on social media that they were woken by tremors and thought the province, which was struck by a huge earthquake in 2008, had been hit again.
The first group of rescuers managed to enter the township at the epicentre of yesterday's quake two hours after it struck, despite various landslides triggered by heavy rain.
Rainfall was expected to become heavier in the coming days, the National Meteorological Centre said, warning that the area might face more landslides and mudslides.
Seismologists recorded a magnitude 5.3 earthquake in the Yongshan area on April 5.
