Earthquakes in southwestern China: at least 4 fatalities and 14 injuries

A magnitude 6.1 quake struck at a depth of 17 kilometers (10 miles) in Ya’an city, about 110 kilometers (65 miles) southwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, the China Earthquake Network Center said. A magnitude 4.5 quake, also in Ya’an, followed three minutes later, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The two earthquakes killed at least four people and damaged houses in southwestern China on Wednesday, authorities and state media said.

Fourteen others were injured, at least one seriously, state broadcaster CCTV said in an online report. All of the dead and injured were in Baoxing county in Sichuan province.

The Sichuan fire department said some houses were damaged and more than 1,400 rescuers were headed to the area. The Southwest Railway Authority said some sections of track were closed, causing delays to passenger trains.

The first earthquake was an aftershock of a magnitude 7.0 quake in 2013 that killed 196 people, provincial officials said, according to CGTN, the international arm of CCTV.

China’s deadliest earthquake in recent years was a 7.9 magnitude quake in 2008 that killed nearly 90,000 people in Sichuan.