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Relief supplies dispathced to quake-hit Yunnan

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-10 17:06

BEIJING: China's Civil Affairs Ministry allocated 5,000 tents and other relief materials to southwest China's Yunnan Province on Friday immediately after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit the area.

More than 400,000 people had to be relocated or evacuated after the earthquake rocked Yunnan on Thursday night.

Firefighters set up a tent for those left homeless in a magnitude-6.0 earthquake, which hit Yao'an county of southwest China's Yunnan province July 9, 2009. [Xinhua]

At least one person was killed and 325 injured, 24 of them seriously.

More than 18,000 houses collapsed and 75,000 were damaged in Yao'an and five other counties, all administered by Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

The ministry transferred these relief supplies from the Nanning Disaster Relief Reserve Center in the neighbouring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The ministry and the National Commission for Disaster Reduction started the emergency response on Thursday and two emergency teams headed by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Civil Affairs were dispatched to the quake zone.

Related readings:  1 killed, 336 injured in Yunnan quake

Officials said the civil affairs department of Yunnan Province had allocated 4,500 tents, 3,000 quilts and other relief materials to Yao'an.

More than 1,000 soldiers and police officers were dispatched to help with rescue work.

The quake struck at 7:19 pm, at a depth of about 10 kilometers. The epicenter is in Yao'an county's Guantun Township, about 200 km from the provincial capital of Kunming.

Strong tremors were felt in Kunming, Chuxiong, Lijiang City and Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture.

The quake was followed by eight aftershocks measuring 3 to 4.1 on the Richter scale, three centered in Yao'an and the other five centered in the neighboring Dayao County.

Yunnan is a quake-prone, mountainous region to the southwest of Sichuan Province, and it lies on China's southern border with Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.