Society

Earthquake kills 7 in SW China; one missing

(Agencies/Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-18 14:07

BEIJING: Landslides triggered by a small earthquake in southwest China killed at least seven people and left one person missing over the weekend, local earthquake officials said Monday.

The 3.4-magnitude earthquake struck Sunday afternoon. It was centered in Guizhou province, 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of the capital Guiyang, according to a report from the Guizhou Earthquake Bureau.

With a depth of about 7 km, the epicenter was detected at 25.6 degrees north latitude and 105.8 degrees east longitude in a juncture area between Guanling Buyi and Miao Autonomous County, Zhenning Buyi and Miao Autonomous County and Zhenfeng county, according to China Earthquake Administration.

The earthquake triggered two landslides in separate locations, burying and killing at least seven people instantly with large boulders that tumbled down the mountain, said Tian Xiang, a bureau spokesman.

One person remains missing and nine others are in a local hospital, two with serious injures, Tian said.

Dozens of police officers were sent to the disaster zone, according to the report. Guizhou, like other provinces in southwest China, is a quake-prone region and borders Sichuan province, where a magnitude-7.9 quake in May 2008 left almost 90,000 people dead or missing.