A 6.4-magnitude earthquake rattled a mountainous region in southwest China at dawn yesterday, killing at least three people and injuring about 300, state media and officials said.
Residents in Pu'er, center of a famous tea-producing area in Yunnan Province, fled their houses in panic when the tremor struck at 5:34am, Xinhua news agency reported.
A five-year-old boy was crushed to death when his family's home collapsed, state television said. His parents were taken to hospital but were said to be out of danger.
Local authorities reported more than 290 people injured by mid-afternoon, Xinhua said. The agency earlier said that 15 had sustained serious injuries.
"We're still compiling data on the casualties and on material damage," a local civil affairs official told China News Service. "The numbers will definitely go up."
Authorities ordered the evacuation of thousands of people in the tremor-prone region near the border with Laos and Myanmar.
In Beijing, Cabinet leaders including Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) and Vice Premier Hui Liangyu (回良玉) ordered the establishment of a special task force to deal with the aftermath of the disaster.
Aftershocks continuously rattled the area, one with a magnitude of 5.1, prompting Pu'er officials to issue a warning to residents, the China News Service said.
Roads were severely damaged in the quake, and water and power supplies to the area were cut off, Xinhua said.
Telecommunications systems were also disturbed, making it difficult to assess the situation on the ground, it said.
The agency cited preliminary estimates that material damage totaled about 1 billion yuan (US$130 million).
Xinhua said some houses had collapsed and the government was sending 7,000 tents to the zone, suggesting the damage was quite severe.
"We estimate 120,000 people will have to be evacuated," said an official at the civil affairs bureau in Ning'er County, where the disaster was centered.
The official said 20,000 locals had been mobilized to take part in the rescue work, while Xinhua also said authorities had dispatched more than 50 rescue workers to the affected area.
Military personnel in the region had also been sent to the disaster zone, including 3,000 members of armed border units, reports said.
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