At least 25 people were killed and 250 injured in an earthquake that struck a remote area of south-west China near the border with Myanmar on Thursday, state media reported. The tremor reduced hundreds of houses to rubble, left some desperate residents trapped under buildings and triggered power cuts in the surrounding area of China, though no casualties were reported in Myanmar.
The epicentre of the 5.4-magnitude quake, which struck at 12:58 pm (0458 GMT), was located about 225 kilometres (140 miles) west-south-west of the ancient city of Dali in Yunnan province, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake hit at a depth of 34 kilometres, the USGS said, though Chinese seismologists put the depth at just 10 kilometres. The death toll had risen to 25, with 250 injured, 134 of them seriously, Xinhua news agency said, citing local authorities. The quake toppled the homes of 1,039 families and seriously damaged nearly 5,000 others, mostly in the border town of Yingjiang, it said.
Witnesses told the news agency that parts of a supermarket and hotel had caved in, and that people were buried in the debris. "The quake happened shortly after I finished my lunch. The house totally collapsed within only a few seconds," local reporter Miao Bin told Xinhua.