Many rush out of buildings as 5.7-magnitude quake hits southwest China

KUNMING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Many people rushed out buildings in southwest China Friday as an earthquake measuring 5.7 jolted the border area of Yunnan Province and its neighboring province of Guizhou.

The earthquake hit the border area of Yiliang county of Yunnan and Weining county of Guizhou at 11:19 a.m. and the depth of its epicenter was

about 14 km at 27.5 degrees north latitude and 104.0 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

Just an hour later, another quake measuring 5.6 hit Yiliang county again, said a CENC statement.

Many people rushed out of buildings in Shaotong city, which administers Yiliang, as the buildings were shaken when the quake struck the area, bloggers said on the popular microblogging website weibo.com.

Luo Shaojiang, a resident of Shaotong, said that she felt dizzy in the quake. The water bucket and desks were shaking in her third-floor office.

Tremor was also felt in the neighboring province of Sichuan. A woman surnamed Wang said that she saw tables shaking in her home in the Sichuan city of Leshan.

Yunnan's provincial seismological bureau has sent a work team to the quake-stricken area, said an official with the bureau.

Related:

At least five dead in SW China quake

KUNMING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- At least five people died and more than 20,000 houses collapsed or were damaged in an earthquake that jolted southwest China's Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, government sources said.

The 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit the border area of Yiliang county of Yunnan and Weining county of Guizhou at 11:19 a.m. and the depth of its epicenter was about 14 km at 27.5 degrees north latitude and 104.0 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

The deaths and losses were reported by the civil affairs department of Yunnan. Casualties are still unknown in Guizhou. Full story