16 killed in magnitude 5.7 temblor in Jiangxi
(Xinhua/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-11-26 13:59

Some 130,000 homes were damaged in the worst-hit Jiujiang and Ruicheng counties, while 420,000 people were evacuated to safer areas as emergency officials rushed tents to the zone to shelter the homeless.

Earthquake survivors receive medical treatment in the open in Ruichang Saturday, November 26, 2005. [newsphoto]

An emergency work group sent by the State Seismic Bureau, together with one on-the-spot work team arrived in the site of the quake by Saturday noon. Teams dispatched by local seismic bureaux of Jiangxi, Hubei and Fujian provinces are also on their way to the quake-stricken region to render help

Officials there said they were still assessing the extent of the quake, while a hotel receptionist who declined to give her name told Reuters that residents had been scared but rural areas were probably worst hit.

A Chinese woman whose daughter perished in the earthquake cries in front of a collapsed building in Jiujiang, East China's Jiangxi Province Saturday, November 26, 2005. [Xinhua]

"You could hear windows vibrating, everyone ran out into the street. But I haven't heard of any buildings collapsing in the city, I think it was some kilometers away."

Debris is seen at a street after an earthquake struck in Jiujiang, East China's Jiangxi Province, November 26, 2005. [newsphoto]

The quake was also felt in neighboring Hunan, Hubei and Anhui provinces, state television reported, while in the industrial hub of Wuhan, people frightened by the tremors rushed into

The United States National Earthquake Information Center reported the quake was magnitude 5.5.