An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 struck China's Sichuan province on Monday, less than 100 km (60 miles) from the provincial capital of Chengdu, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its website.
The tremor, centred 92 km northwest of Chengdu, was felt as far away as Bangkok, where office buildings swayed with the impact.
The following is a chronology of some of the biggest earthquakes in China in recent decades:
May 12, 2008 - An earthquake measuring 7.5 shakes China's Sichuan province.
March 21, 2008 - An earthquake measuring 7.2 hits the remote northwestern region of Xinjiang; damage was limited.
February 2003 - At least 94 people are killed and more than 200 injured when a quake measuring 6.8 hits sparsely populated Jiashi county in Xinjiang.
January 1998 - At least 47 people are killed and more than 2,000 injured when an earthquake measuring 6.2 rocks Hebei, devastating mud and brick homes in two rural counties.
April 1997 - A strong earthquake measuring 6.6 hits Xinjiang, killing nine people and injuring 60.
January 1997 - An earthquake measuring 6.4 kills up to 50 people and injures more than 40 in Xinjiang.
May 1996 - Earthquake measuring 6.4 rocks Inner Mongolia, killing 15 people and injuring more than 200. Nearly 400 aftershocks follow.
March 1996 - Earthquake measuring 6.9 jolts Xinjiang, killing 26 people, injuring 128.
February 1996 - Earthquake measuring 7.0 wrecks scenic mountain town of Lijiang in Yunnan, killing at least 304 people and injuring more than 16,000.
October 1995 - Earthquake in Yunnan kills 50 and injures more than 6,000. The 6.5 tremor leaves 170,000 people homeless.
April 1990 - Earthquake measuring 6.9 kills 126 people in northwestern Qinghai province.
October 1989 - Series of tremors in northern Shanxi and Hebei provinces kill 29 people and leave 60,000 homeless.
November 1988 - Earthquake measuring 7.6 devastates remote areas in Yunnan, killing at least 730 people and destroying about 400,000 homes.
August 1985 - Xinjiang hit by earthquake that kills 67 people and injures more than 100. The tremor measures 7.4.
April 1985 - Earthquake measuring 6.3 kills 22 in Yunnan.