Beijing - At least five people died and 11 were seriously injured after an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale hit part of south-western China's Sichuan province on Saturday, the government and state media said. The epicentre of the quake was about 50 kilometres south-east of Sichuan's Panzhihua city at a depth of about 10 kilometres, the State Seismological Bureau said.
It said the area affected by the quake, which struck at 4:30 pm Saturday (1030 GMT), had a population density of about 118 people per square kilometre and was on Sichuan's border with Yunnan province.
Three deaths and the 11 seriously injured were reported in Yunnan's Chuxiong district, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The quake was felt in both provincial capitals, prompting many people to remain outdoors on Saturday evening for fear of aftershocks, the agency said.
Several rural counties in Sichuan and Yunnan reported damaged houses.
"Locals in the county rushed out into the open," it quoted Zheng Zhouwei, an official in Yunnan's Yongren county, as saying.
"Cracks appeared on house walls and many windows were broken," Zheng said.
Officials and emergency workers had travelled to the area to assess the full impact of the quake and help those affected, reports said.
Sichuan was hit by a devastating earthquake that killed more than 70,000 people on May 12 and thousands of aftershocks have shaken parts of the province since then.
