600 Killed as 7.6 Quake Hits Southern China

About 600 people were killed by an earthquake that shook a remote mountain jungle region of southern China, two official radio stations said today.

The China International Broadcasting Station, also known as Radio Beijing, and the People’s Central Broadcasting Station quoted a single reporter, Hu Jiaqi, as giving the death toll from Sunday’s quake.

Radio Beijing also reported that most of the dead were in the Yunnan province village of Shanmato.

Telephone service was cut off to the affected region, in Yunnan province near the Burmese border.

Series of Aftershocks

The quake had a magnitude of 7.6 and was followed overnight and early today by 34 aftershocks, the strongest measuring 7.2.

Roads to the affected area were impassable and Yunnan authorities ordered an airlift of food, medicine and other relief supplies. Yunnan Gov. He Zhiqiang flew to the scene to direct rescue work.

The New China News Agency said most houses were destroyed in Lancang and Menglian counties, which were at the epicenter of the quake. Buildings also were destroyed in 14 surrounding counties, the agency said. Most homes in that part of China are simple mud and wood structures.

Quake in Thailand

At about the same time as the first quake in China, a less powerful temblor was reported in northern Thailand near the Burmese border. The quake caused minor damage to buildings and made high-rise buildings sway in Bangkok, hundreds of miles to the south.

In the “Skylounge” restaurant on the top floor of the 43-story Baiyoke Tower, Bangkok’s tallest building, hundreds of panicked patrons fled without paying their bills.

The quake in China was also felt in Yunnan’s capital, Kunming, a city of 1.5 million residents 240 miles northeast of Lancang. The seismology bureau said there was no damage there.

The Yunnan quake was the second in China during the weekend.

On Saturday, a quake with a magnitude of 7 shook northern Tibet and Qinghai province in far western China. Qinghai seismology officials said the epicenter was in an uninhabited area of the Tanggula Mountains and there were no reports of casualties.

Earthquakes occur frequently both in the Tanggula Mountains and the series of mountain chains that stretch along China’s southern border. However, quakes with a magnitude of 7 or more are rare.