Society
29 injured in earthquake in SW China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-26 13:30
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KUNMING - At least 29 people had been injured in the 5.1-magnitude earthquake that hit southwest China's Yunnan Province Thursday, local authorities said.
The earthquake struck at 12:56 p.m. in the area between Lufeng and Yuanmou. Its epicenter was located at 25.4 degrees north latitude and 101.9 degrees east longitude, at a depth of 16 km, according to China Earthquake Administration.
Six million yuan has been allocated as relief and 1,750 tents have been sent to the quake area.
Lufeng is known as China's largest source of dinosaur bones. Anthropoid at Lufeng dated back to eight million years ago. Homo Sapian fossils in Yuanmou, or Homo erectus yuanmouensis, dated back to some 1.7 million years ago.
No damages to the heritage sites have been reported as of Thursday night.
Yunnan's seismological bureau has detected 14 aftershocks of the quake with a highest magnitude of 2.9, said Gu Yishan, an official with the bureau.
Rescue work is going on, Gu added.
Earthquakes measuring 5 degrees or above on the Richter scale frequently hit the region in history, said Gu.
