Earthquake leaves four dead in China

A moderate earthquake has toppled houses in a mountainous part of south-western China, killing four people and injuring at least 100, state media said.

The magnitude-5.7 quake was centred near the border of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces where many of the Yi ethnic minority live, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. I

It said the casualties occurred in Yunnan's Ninglang county and Sichuan's Yanyuan county, where many houses collapsed.

Rescue officials were sending tents, quilts and clothes to the affected area, it said.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 5.5.

A magnitude-5.8 quake in Yunnan in March last year killed 25 people and damaged thousands of homes. The area is about 1,450 miles south-west of Beijing.

China's worst earthquake in recent years struck Sichuan province in May 2008 and registered magnitude 7.9. It left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing.