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June 24, 2012

2 killed, 100 hurt in southwestern China quake

A moderate earthquake on Sunday toppled houses in a mountainous part of southwestern China, killing two people and injuring at least 100, state media said.
The magnitude-5.7 quake was centred near the border of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces where many Yi ethnic minority live, the official Xinhua News Agencyreported. It said the casualties occurred in Yunnan’s Ninglang county and Sichuan’s Yanyuan county, where many houses collapsed.
Rescue officials were sending tents, quilts and clothes to the affected area, it said.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 5.5.
A magnitude-5.8 quake in Yunnan in March 2011 killed 25 people and damaged thousands of homes. The area is about 2,340 km southwest of Beijing.
China’s worst earthquake in recent years struck Sichuan province in May 2008 and registered magnitude 7.9. It left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing.