5.1 magnitude quake kills two in China

Beijing, Aug 25: A 5.1 magnitude earthquake today killed two people, rocking the southwest Chinese province of Yunnan, an area still recovering from a quake last month, Xinhua news agency said.

Yunnan province officials have sent experts and 400 emergency tents to the quake-struck area in Yanjin county, Xinhua said.

''The quake was strongly felt in the county,'' said Cheng Lianyuan, a Yanjin County official. ''Some big rocks from the mountains rolled down and destroyed many parts of the road between the the township and the county.'' Yanjin County is located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and has a population of 350,000.

A 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit Yanjin and neighboring Daguan county on July 22, killing 22 and injuring 106 people.

The quake toppled more than 1,400 houses and damaged 38,000 others in 13 townships of the county as most houses in Yanjin are built on hillsides and therefore vulnerable to earthquakes.

Yanjin is located on an earthquake belt where at least nine major quakes have been recorded, the strongest of which was measured at 7.1.

Reuters