Kunming :At least three people have been killed and 100 injured when a 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit a border region in southwest China.

Twenty people were seriously injured in the quake that struck at 8.24 p.m. Thursday in Yingjiang county, said Gu Zhongshou, a deputy with the publicity department of prefectural committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

At least 120,000 people had been forced to evacuate their homes, the ministry of civil affairs said.

Power and telecommunications networks were cut in the main districts of the county.

The epicentre was at 24.9 degrees north and 97.8 degrees east.

Earlier, a tremor measuring five on the Richter scale struck the county at 5.35 a.m. Wednesday.

More than 110 aftershocks of up to 3.6 on the Richter scale had been recorded till 6 p.m. Thursday.

Livelihoods of more than 14,000 people were affected and 3,400 others were evacuated after Wednesday's tremor. No one had been reported injured.

The tremor destroyed six homes and damaged 4,056 other structures in the county. Most of the damaged structures were in a dangerous state.

The quake also damaged 17 school buildings, 28 dormitories and some communication facilities.

The Civil Affairs Ministry sent a special working group to assess the situation and offer assistance in the quake zone.

At least 70,000 people were killed May 12 in a devastating earthquake in the neighbouring province of Sichuan.

 

Source : IANS