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6.1-magnitude aftershock hits Sichuan,3 dead

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-06 07:12

BEIJING -- A 6.1-magnitude aftershock hit southwest China's Sichuan province, close to the epicenter of the devastated earthquake in May.

The China Earthquake Networks Center said Tuesday's aftershock struck Yaodu Township, Qingchuan county, adjacent to Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, with the epicenter about 10 km underground.

Two people were killed and 29 others were injured in Qingchuan, the Sichuan provincial disaster relief headquarters said Wednesday, adding that more than 2,700 houses were destroyed there.

In neighboring Gansu Province, the tremor left one person dead and six seriously injured in Wenxian County of Longnan City.

The tremor was also felt in the cities of Hanzhong and Xi'an, both in Shaanxi, as well as Chongqing. Many people rushed out of buildings in those cities.

The casualties were in Yaodu Township, which was also severely affected by the 8.0 quake on May 12, said an official in the publicity department of the Qingchuan County Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Ma Jian, chief of the publicity department, said the latest quake also disrupted communications in Yaodu.

Traffic on National Highway 212 was disrupted after a bridge on the road collapsed as a result of Tuesday's quake.

In the 96 hours ending Monday noon, three aftershocks measuring 4.0 to 4.9, one between 6.0 and 6.9 and 770 aftershocks at or below magnitude 3.9 were monitored in the quake zone, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

A total of 22,019 aftershocks had been detected since May 12.

The death toll from the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province and its neighboring regions stood at 69,207 as of Monday noon, the State Council Information Office said in a statement.

The number of people listed as missing and injured stood at 18,194 and 374,468, respectively.