One person was killed and at least 150 were injured in an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter Scale which shook the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, officials said Friday.
The quake struck at 6:46 pm (1046 GMT) Thursday in the Shidian region around 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the border with Myanmar, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
A local official in Shidian said one person had been confirmed dead and that at least 150 were wounded, 63 of whom were in a serious condition.
He said 38,000 houses were "destroyed" and that 150,000 people were in some way "affected" by the quake.
The official, speaking to AFP in Beijing, put the estimated damage caused by the earthquake at 260 million yuan (31.5 million dollars).
He said electricity in Shidian had been cut for eight hours and that several roads in the mountainous region had been blocked by landslides triggered by the temblor.
Earthquakes are extremely frequent in Yunnan which has suffered 11 temblors measing more than 6.0 on the Richter Scale in the past 50 years.
Two quakes measuring 5.9 and 6.5 on the Richter Scale struck the Yao'n district west of the regional capital Kunming within an hour in January last year, killing five people and injuring more than 1,500 -- BEIJING (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
