HONG KONG: A strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit southwest China’s mountainous Yunnan province late yesterday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The quake struck at the shallow depth of 10km at 9.49pm (1349 GMT) in a region that lies close to China’s borders with Myanmar and Laos.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said at least one person had been killed and three were injured. The epicentre was in Jinggu County, 85km from Pu’er city, in a region famous for its tea plantations. The quake was also felt in Yunnan’s provincial capital Kunming.
USGS had earlier given a lower magnitude reading of 5.8 and a shallower depth of 5km. Xinhua gave a significantly higher reading of 6.6-magnitude, citing the China Earthquake Networks Centre.
The agency said buildings shook for several seconds, according to local officials, while some phone calls to the region went unanswered.
“The whole building was shaking terribly with a loud cracking sound. Plates fell off in the kitchen. We all ran out and the streets now are packed with people,” Li Anqin, a woman living in Weiyuan town, the county seat of Jinggu, told Xinhua via telephone.
Yunnan, a remote province, is vulnerable to earthquakes. The region sees frequent seismic activity from the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, which form the vast Himalaya mountain range. AFP
