China's Yunnan Province Rocked by Strong Earthquake; At Least 1 Dead

China's Yunnan Province Rocked by Strong Earthquake; At Least 1 Dead

 

A strong earthquake rattled southwest China's temblor-prone Yunnan province Tuesday. Preliminary reports indicate at least one person was killed and a number of buildings were damaged.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake measured magnitude 6.0 and was centered 18 kilometers (11 miles) from Weiyuan city at a depth of 10.9 kilometers (6.7 miles). Its shallow focus was likely to cause greater damage, but there were no immediate reports of serious destruction.
China's national earthquake monitoring agency gave the quake's magnitude as 6.6 and said it struck just 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) below the surface. It said the quake was followed by eight aftershocks, the strongest of which registered at magnitude 4.2.
The earthquake occurred at 9:49 p.m. local time (9:49 a.m. EDT in the U.S.), when most people would have been at home.The remote mountainous region near the border with Myanmar is prone to earthquakes. A 6.1-magnitude quake in northern Yunnan in August killed at least 615 people and left more than 100 others missing. In 1970, a magnitude-7.7 earthquake in Yunnan killed at least 15,000 people








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