An earthquake has struck southwestern China, killing at least 175 people in a remote mountainous area of Yunnan province, and causing some buildings, including a school, to collapse.
Some 1,400 people were injured and 181 missing, Xinhua and state broadcaster CCTV said, citing the authorities.
The official Xinhua news agency said that the epicentre of Sunday's quake was in Longtoushan town in Yunnan's Ludian county.
Communications have been seriously affected and rescuers are rushing to the scene, the report said.
Al Jazeera's Adrian Brown, reporting from Kunshan, China, said: "This quake has happened in a very very remote area of southwest China.
"The difficulty for rescuers is going to be the time it takes to reach this area."
Pictures posted online by state media showed troops stretchering people away, and bricks which had fallen off buildings damaging cars, Reuters news agency reported.
'Not quake proof'
Many people rushed out of buildings onto the street after the quake hit, electricity supplies were cut and at least one school collapsed, Xinhua added.
"The problem is a lot of the structures in this area are simply not quake proof. This is a very impoversihed region and very remote", Brown reported.
The US Geological Survey said the quake registered at shallow depth of less than 1 mile (1.6 km). Chinese state media said was felt most strongly Yunnan, as well as in the neighbouring provinces of Guizhou and Sichuan.
The government is sending 2,000 tents, 3,000 folding beds, 3,000 quilts and 3,000 coats to the disaster zone, the report said.
Ludian is home to some 265,900 people, Xinhua added. China is frequently struck by quakes in this part of the country. A quake in Sichuan in 2008 killed almost 70,000 people.
A quake in the same region in 2012 kiled 80 people.
Earlier in the day a less severe quake struck Tibet, causing no casualties.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/08/deadly-quake-rattles-southwest-china-20148313030154246.html
3/8/14
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- M 6.1 - SICHUAN-YUNNAN-GUIZHOU RG, CHINA - 2014-08-03 08:30:14 UTC....local time: 16:30.....
| Magnitude | Mw 6.1 |
| Region | SICHUAN-YUNNAN-GUIZHOU RG, CHINA |
| Date time | 2014-08-03 08:30:14.1 UTC |
| Location | 27.26 N ; 103.50 E |
| Depth | 10 km |
| Distances | 258 km N of Kunming, China / pop: 1,023,674 / local time: 16:30:14.1 2014-08-03 22 km W of Zhaotong, China / pop: 109,400 / local time: 16:30:14.1 2014-08-03 |
- M6.1 - 11km WNW of Wenping, China
Event Time
- 2014-08-03 08:30:13 UTC
- 2014-08-03 16:30:13 UTC+08:00 at epicenter
- 2014-08-03 11:30:13 UTC+03:00 system time
Location
Nearby Cities
- 11km (7mi) WNW of Wenping, China
- 29km (18mi) WSW of Zhaotong, China
- 91km (57mi) WNW of Weining, China
- 135km (84mi) ESE of Xichang, China
- 731km (454mi) NNW of Ha Noi, Vietnam
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China has sent 2,500 soldiers to the southwest province of Yunnan after an earthquake killed hundreds of people....
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήAt least 381 people died and more than 1,800 were injured when the magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck on Sunday.
Chinese troops with life-detection instruments and digging equipment are on their way to the region to help with rescue efforts.
State broadcaster CCTV said the earthquake was the strongest to hit the mountainous province in 14 years.
President Xi Jinping called for "all-out efforts" to find survivors as he dispatched soldiers to the area.
They will join more than 300 police and firefighters from Zhaotong and about 400 emergency workers and sniffer dogs from across Yunnan province in the rescue operation.................http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-28635027
4/8/14
Statement by NSC Deputy Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on the Earthquake in Southwestern China...
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήThe United States offers sincere condolences to all those who lost loved ones in the August 3 earthquake in southwestern China. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those that lost their lives, those injured or displaced, and all the people of China on this difficult day. U.S. disaster response officials are in contact with their Chinese counterparts. The United States stands ready to assist.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/03/statement-nsc-deputy-spokesperson-bernadette-meehan-earthquake-southwest
3/8/14