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Global

Southwest China quake kills 15 and injures scores


    SHANGHAI (Reuters) - An earthquake hit southwest China's Sichuan province on Saturday, killing 15 people and injuring nearly a hundred as houses in rural villages collapsed, state media reported.

    The epicentre of the quake, which struck around 4:30 p.m.(8:30 a.m. British time), was 20 miles (30 km) southeast ofPanzhihua, near Sichuan's border with Yunnan province,according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was sixmiles (10 km) deep.

    The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quakeat 5.7 and China's official Xinhua news agency said it measured6.1 on the Richter scale.

    Parts of Sichuan province were devastated by an earthquakethat killed about 70,000 people in May 12. The province, knownfor its pandas and fiery cuisine, has struggled to rebuildafter the disaster, which left 10 million people homeless.

    "A large number of houses have collapsed," Qi Kaihong,deputy chief of the Huili county publicity department, toldChinese state television.

    About 1,400 homes were damaged in several counties and someof them collapsed entirely, Xinhua reported.

    (Reporting by Edmund Klamann and Andrew Torchia inShanghai, Washington World Desk)