World Earthquake Rocks China's Yunnan

[LequteMan]

China’s state media has reported the occurrence of a 5.8-magnitude earthquake in Yunnan, an area close to the popular tourist area of Shangri-La. In total, Xinhua news agency said 5 people were killed and 24 people including seven tourists were injured.

It struck at 8:04am local time and was centred on Yunnan's Benzilan town, said the US Geological Survey (USGS). It was about 10 kilometres deep.

The quake sparked landslides, blocked roads, trapped tourist buses, cut off communications and toppled or damaged tens of thousands of homes in the mountainous area.

The quake toppled 600 homes and damaged more than 55,000 others, forcing over 9,000 local residents to relocate, Xinhua said.