China rocked by 4.8 magnitude quake, 61 injured

Beijing: A 4.8 magnitude earthquake jolted a city in southwest China`s Sichuan Province on Thursday, leaving 61 people injured, six days after a strong quake in the same province had killed nearly 200 people.

More than 29,000 houses have been damaged and nearly 47,000 people have been affected by the quake as of 2.30 pm today, according to the Yibin municipal emergency response office. About 14,000 people have also been relocated. Direct economic losses are estimated at 291 million yuan (USD 46.7 million), state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The earthquake hit the juncture of Changning, Gongxian and Xingwen counties of Yibin City in the morning, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake had hit Lushan County, Ya`an City in the Sichuan Province on Saturday killing nearly 200 lives. Over 12,000 people were also injured and nearly two million people were affected by it. The region has experienced over 4,000 aftershocks in the last few days. Massive relief and rescue operations have been started in the quake hit areas. Sichuan province is located in the foothills of Tibetan plateau which is prone to high velocity earthquakes. Over 90,000 people were killed or reported missing after a 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit the region in 2008. PTI