At least 367 people have been killed and
some 1,300 injured by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake in south-west China, state
news agency Xinhua says.
The US Geological Survey said the
quake struck about 11km (seven miles) north-west of Wenping in Yunnan province
at 16:30 local time (08:30 GMT).
A major rescue and relief operation is
under way.
State broadcaster CCTV said the
earthquake was the strongest to hit the province in 14 years.Read and see more pictures after the cut.
The USGS said the quake struck at a
depth of about 10km in a remote mountainous area in Yunnan province.
The tremor was also felt in the
neighbouring provinces of Guizhou and Sichuan.
Chinese state broadcaster footage shows
the moment the quake strikes
Xinhua said about 12,000 homes had
collapsed in Ludian, a county of some 439,000 people, north-east of Yunnan
province's capital, Kunming.
All of the casualties reported so far
are in Qiaojia County of the Zhaotong region, which appeared to be the hardest
hit.
Ma Liya, a resident of Zhaotong, told
Xinhua that the streets there were like "battlefield after
bombardment", adding her neighbour's house, a new two-storey building, had
collapsed.
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.
Paramilitary policemen helped to rescue
injured residents in Zhaotong
People walk among debris after the
earthquake in Ludian county
Rescuers
work in rubble in Zhaotong
Injured families gathered at a hospital
in Zhaotong in Ludian county
After initial reports of a death toll of
26, the numbers of casualties rose sharply, passing 150 before Xinhua reported a figure of 367
killed.
The news agency says the epicentre of
the earthquake was in Longtoushan in Yunnan's Ludian county.
Chen Guoyong, the head of Longtoushan
township, told Xinhua that many houses had fallen and rescuers had been sent to
the epicentre.
Many people rushed out of buildings onto
the street after the quake hit, electricity supplies were cut and at least one
school collapsed, Xinhua reports.
Communications have also been seriously
affected.
South-west China lies in an area that is
prone to earthquakes.
An earthquake in Sichuan in 2008
killed
tens of thousands of people.
And in 1970, a magnitude 7.7 quake
in
Yunnan killed at least 15,000 people.
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