KUNMING -- Two person were confirmed dead and one injured in an earthquake measuring 5.1 degrees on the Richter scale that jolted Yanjin County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, at 1:51 p.m Friday, according to local government.

Yunnan Provincial Civil Affairs Bureau has sent officials and earthquake experts to direct relief efforts in quake-hit areas.

Epicenter of the quake was located at 28.0 degrees north latitude and 104.2 degrees east longitude, some 570 kilometers from Kunming, capital of the province.

A Xinhua correspondent based in Chengdu, capital of neighboring Sichuan Province, said he felt the quake.

Yanjin County is located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and has a population of 350,000.

An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter Scale hit Yanjin and neighboring Daguan county on July 22, killing 22 and injuring 106 people.

The quake toppled more than 1,400 houses and damaged 38,000 others in 13 townships of the county as most houses in Yanjin are built on hillside and therefore vulnerable to earthquakes.

Yanjin is located on an earthquake belt, where at least nine major quakes were recorded, the strongest of which was measured at 7.1 degrees on the Richter scale.