64 killed, 150 injured in Southwest China Earthquake

	64 killed, 150 injured in Southwest China Earthquake At least 64 people were killed when two shallow magnitude-5.6 earthquakes struck south-west China, state media reported. The quakes struck near the border of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, the first one at 11.19 am (local time) and the second one about 45 minutes later. State television footage showed hundreds of people gathered on the streets in the town of Yiliang, in Yunnan, which appeared to have been worst hit. Footage also showed boulder-covered roadways, abandoned cars and black smoke pouring from buildings. Most of the victims were from Yiliang county. By mid-afternoon, authorities had moved more than 100000 people from the two regions as a series of more than 60 aftershocks struck. Xinhua said 20000 houses had collapsed or been damaged and about 700 people had been injured. As the number of dead climbed throughout the day, state media reported that premier Wen Jiabao would travel to the area, as he has often done when disasters strike Chinese regions. President Hu Jintao called for disaster relief to be dispatched to the area while attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok. "The hardest part of the rescue now is traffic. Roads are blocked and rescuers have to climb the mountains to reach hard-hit villages," Xinhua quoted Li Fuchun, an official from Luozehe, the town at the epicentre of the quake, as saying. The death toll may rise as rescuers reach villages cut off by landslides, the news agency said.	From: CrazzyFunk Views: 0 0 ratings
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