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Quake toll in southwest China's Yunnan rises to five

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-26 00:01

KUNMING -- The quake death toll in southwest China's Yunnan Province has risen to five with two further deaths reported, the provincial authorities said on Monday.

One person in Yingjiang County who died from heart attack while being evacuated and another died of serious injuries in hospital, the Yunnan Civil Affairs Department said, giving no other details.

Yingjiang was hit by a magnitude-5 tremor at 5:35 a.m. on Wednesday, followed by quakes with magnitudes 4.9 and 5.9 on Thursday.

Twenty-nine people were seriously injured and 98 slight hurt. The tremors destroyed 31,000 residential buildings and damaged 130,000 others. forcing the evacuation of 125,000 people in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture and Baoshan City.

Tents, quilts and clothing had been allocated to the worst-hit areas, said Wang Shufen, the Yunnan Civil Affair Department chief.

The finance and civil affairs ministries and the provincial government have earmarked almost 100 million yuan (14.5 million US dollars) for disaster relief.