4 dead, 24 injured in SW China quake

KUNMING — Four died, at least 24 others were injured and one person was trapped in debris, after a 5-magnitude earthquake struck Qiaojia county in Southwest China's Yunnan province late Monday, local authorities said Tuesday.

Rescue forces from the local public security, fire fighting, emergency response sectors have rushed to the quake zone.

The quake struck at 9:47 pm Monday. The epicenter, with a depth of eight km, was monitored at 27.18 degrees north latitude and 103.16 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

In addition to Qiaojia, the earthquake was felt strongly in Huize county of Qujing city, as well as the cities of Zhaotong and Xuanwei and Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture.

The county government of Qiaojia has sent rescuers to 16 townships for the rescue and disaster relief.

The county meteorological observatory forecast that there will be mainly sunny and cloudy weather in the next three days. Only the area of Xiaohe township will see some showers.