As of 1:00 pm Wednesday, the earthquake in Dayao County of Yunnan Province, southwest China, had killed 16 and injured 584, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

 

Of those injured in the earthquake, 104 were seriously wounded, the ministry said, and the lives and livelihoods of 1.25 million people had been affected.

 

Some 1,508 heads of livestock died, 24,000 residential houses collapsed and 1,186,000 houses were damaged.

 

Yunnan provincial government has allocated 5 million yuan (US$602,000) in relief aid for the quake victims in the disaster areas.

 

Relief materials including 4,400 tents, 150 tons of grain, 22,000 clothes items and more than 1,800 quilts have been sent to Dayao, Yao'an, Yongren, Wuding and Yuanmou counties in the province's Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Chuxiong.

 

To date, more than 4,200 makeshift shelters have been set up for those quake victims. The tremor, measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, occurred in Dayao County, some 180 kilometers from the provincial capital of Kunming, at 11:16 pm Monday.

 

The epicenter was located at Tanhua Town, 26.0 degrees north latitude and 101.2 degrees east longitude.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2003)