Casualties reported in SW China earthquake
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Casualties were reported after an earthquake jolted Yingjiang County in southwest China's Yunnan Province Thursday noon, local authorities said.
Many houses collapsed in the 5.8-magnitude quake that hit the county at 12:58 a.m. Beijing Time, county officials said.
China Central Television reported that the quake had left seven people dead as of 2 p.m., citing Li Zhiren, deputy head of the county, as saying.
The exact number of casualties are being verified.
The tremor has triggered power outage across Yingjiang.
Witnesses reportedly said people were buried under debris and part of a supermarket and a hotel caved in.
The epicenter, with a depth of 10 kilometers, was monitored at 24.7 degrees north latitude and 97.9 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
The epicenter is in Shiming village, about 2 kilometers away from the county seat.
Three aftershocks, measuring up to 4.7 degrees on the Richter Scale, jolted the county within 10 minutes.
Armymen are rushing to the site.
