Environment     

20 injured in SW China earthquake

Xinhua, August 18, 2014

• Twenty people were injured after an earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted Yongshan County in southwest China's Yunnan Province at 6:07 a.m. on Sunday, local authorities said.

  People check damages after the earthquake in Wuji Township of Yongshan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Aug. 17, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

  Nine of them were slightly injured. Of the 11 who had been sent to county hospitals for medical treatment, five had been discharged, according to a latest statement of the county government.

  The epicenter was in Wuji Township, 21 kilometers from the county seat. The source of the quake was 7 km deep.

  The quake was strongly felt in the neighboring counties of Suijiang, Daguan and Zhenxiong as well as the Zhaoyang District of Zhaotong City, which administers Yongshan, according to the provincial seismological bureau.

  And 1,463 houses were damaged as of 5:30 p.m., with 45 houses collapsed and 575 badly damaged. Cracks have been spotted in adobe houses and more than 76 cattle lots collapsed,said the statement.

  The facilities of 14 schools were damaged, it said.

  Diaster investigators have also found 70 km of roads,11 transformers, 32 water utilities, 59 km of canals and 135 km of drinking water pipeline damaged. They spotted 542 highway landslides and the facilities of 14 schools were ravaged by different degrees.

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