Thursday, March 10, 2011

Fourteen dead and 135 injured by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in southwest China

An earthquake of 5.8 magnitude on the Richter scale caused 14 dead and 135 injured in China's Yunnan province, southwest of the Asian giant, reported the official Xinhua news agency. The earthquake, whose epicenter was 10 kilometers deep, shook the town of Shiming, Yingjiang district, near the border with Burma, at 12.58 local time (4.58 GMT).

The quake collapsed several homes, part of a supermarket and a hotel, and left people trapped in the rubble, according to witnesses cited by Xinhua. Three aftershocks of 4.7 magnitude occurred in the ten minutes after the first tremor. The quake also cut the electricity supply, Xinhua said, noting that soldiers have been sent to the area to help in rescue efforts.

Western China suffers frequent earthquakes because it lies near where tectonic plates rub Asia and India in the Himalayas. In the same province of Yunnan, some 228 people died and 3,700 were injured in a quake registered in February 1996 in the town of Lijiang, whose historic center, the World Heritage List of UNESCO, was severely damaged

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