Saturday, July 22 2006 12:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale killed at least 13 people in Yanjin county in southwest China's Yunnan province Saturday morning, according to the China Seismological Bureau.

The epicentre of the quake, which occurred at 09:10 a.m., was at 28 degrees north latitude and 104.2 degrees east longitude, about 90 km from Zhaotong city which administers Yanjin.

According to reports from Zhaotong, 41 people injured in the quake have been hospitalised, and the quake had destroyed 56 houses.

Houses in Yanjin, a county on the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau with a population of 350,000, were mostly built near hillsides and therefore are vulnerable to earthquakes, said experts with the seismological bureau.

Rescue teams are on their way to the quake-hit area.