Teachers and students at the Hekou Middle School are evacuated to the playground after an earthquake in Jinping County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, March 30, 2015. A 5.5-magnitude quake struck Jianhe County in southeast Guizhou on Monday rocking several neighboring counties. More than 13,000 residents of 2,200 households in Jianhe were affected by the quake, according to the provincial civil affairs department. (Xinhua/Yang Tongping)
At least four people were injured and more than 13,000 affected after a 5.5-magnitude earthquake struck Jianhe County in southwest China's Guizhou Province on Monday morning.
One of the injured, a woman from Xinliu Village, Nanjia Township, was hit by falling tiles and is receiving treatment in a local hospital.
Some 3,100 rooms suffered minor damage in the tremor, though there have been no reports of houses collapsing or livestock deaths.
In the worst-hit Nanjia Township, roads were damaged but traffic is moving. Communication and power supply in the county is operating as normal.
Xinliu Primary School, which is close to Nanjia, suspended classes.
Governments at various levels have sent representatives to the quake-hit area to oversee rescue work.
The quake, which was Guizhou's biggest in terms of magnitude since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, hit at 9:47 a.m. at 26.6 degrees north latitude and 108.8 degrees east longitude with a depth of 7.0 km, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
The most recent fatal earthquake in the province occurred in January, 2010. The 3.4-magnitude quake killed six people and injured nine others in the border area of Guanling, Zhenning and Zhenfeng counties.
A 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit Ludian County of neighboring Yunnan Province on Aug. 3, 2014, claiming more than 600 lives and destroying over 80,000 homes.
