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CHINA-EARTHQUAKE
6.1-magnitude quake hits China’s Yunnan province: USGS
BEIJING, May 21, 2021 (BSS /AFP) – A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan on Friday, the United States Geological Survey said.
The quake hit at 21:48 (1348 GMT) with its epicentre near the city of Dali, a popular tourist destination, at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), it said.
It was initially recorded as a 6.0-magnitude quake before USGS revised its size upwards.
The China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) warned people to “stay away from buildings” in a post on the Twitter-like Weibo platform.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.
The quake monitor said the earthquake followed “a series of smaller quakes” less than an hour before.
Yunnan is acutely vulnerable to earthquakes. The region sees frequent seismic activity from the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, which form the vast Himalayan mountain range.
In October 2014, hundreds of people were injured and more than 100,000 displaced after a shallow 6.0 magnitude tremor hit Yunnan, close to China’s borders with Myanmar and Laos.
China is regularly hit by earthquakes, especially in its mountainous western and southwestern regions where Yunnan lies.
A powerful 7.9-magnitude quake in southwest Sichuan province in 2008 left 87,000 people dead or missing.
In February 2003, a powerful 6.8-magnitude quake killed 268 people in Xinjiang and caused significant damage.
BSS/AFP/BZC/2135HRS