ZHAOTONG, Yunnan – Sixty-four people have been confirmed dead and 715 others were injured after multiple earthquakes struck a mountainous region in Southwest China’s Yunnan province on Friday, the province’s civil affairs department said, reports China Daily.

The death toll may continue to rise as rescuers are yet to reach some of the quake-hit villages blocked off by landslides and falling rocks, officials with Zhaotong city, Yunnan province, told Xinhua.
Power and communications appeared to be cut off in the worst-hit areas.
According to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC), a magnitude-5.7 earthquake hit the border area of Yiliang county of Yunnan and Weining county of Guizhou province at 11:19 am. The depth of its epicenter was about 14 km. It was followed by more than 60 tremors, with four above 4.0 on the Richter scale.

The epicenter was traced to Luozehe town, about 33 km away from the city center of Zhaotong. Forty-nine people were killed in Yiliang. The other known death occurred in urban Zhaotong, said an official with the provincial civil affairs department.
The quake has disrupted the lives of over 700,000 people in Yiliang and Daguan counties as well as Zhaoyang District, which are all under the administration of Zhaotong, the city’s civil affairs bureau reported. So far, more than 100,000 people have been evacuated. More than 20,000 houses were damaged or had collapsed.

In Guizhou, the quakes have also toppled three homes and damaged 1,540 more, slightly injuring one person, according to the provincial civil affairs department.
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