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6.1-magnitude quake jolts Sichuan, 3 dead

(Xinhua/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-08-30 17:35

PANZHIHUA, SICHUAN -- An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale hit Panzhihua City in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Saturday afternoon.

The quake struck at 4:30 pm Saturday (Beijing time). The epicenter was about 50 km southeast of the city's downtown area, at 26.2 degrees north and 101.9 degrees east and at a depth of 10 km, the National Seismograph Network Center said.

The earthquake also affected adjacent Yongren county in Yunnan Province, according to the Yunnan Seismological Bureau.

Qi Kaihong, deputy publicity chief of Huili county in Liangshan prefecture of Sichuan, said at least three have been confirmed dead in the earthquake, and some houses were seriously damaged, China News Service reproted.

Mobile communications were disrupted during the quake briefly, and fixed-line communications are stable in Panzhihua.

Zheng Zhouwei, a local legislator in Yongren,  said: "Locals in the county rushed out into the open. Cracks appeared on house walls and many windows were broken," he said.

Yunan's capital, Kunming, about 300 km from the epicenter, also felt the tremor. Many residents were staying outside after the quake.

On May 12, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province killed nearly 70,000 people and left 5 million homeless.