Thaindian News

Beijing, Sept 7, (THAINDIAN NEWS) At least 20 people have been confirmed dead when a series of devastating earthquakes hit the southwest of china. One of the earthquakes is said to have measured a magnitude of 5.7 according to the reports aired by the CCTV broadcaster.

The town of Yiliang is said to have been the worst hit and television footages have shown that people from all divides gathered in the town in what appeared to have been the worst hit among the affected areas. There were fallen debris, bricks and rocks scattered all over the Yiliang town.

The largest earthquake is said to have struck the on the boarder of Guizhou and Yunnan provinces at around 0300 GMT. The earthquake center said that the earthquake struck at a depth of 14 KM while the US geological survey put the magnitude at 5.6 and reported that it struck at a depth of 10 KM.

The official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that around 20,000 houses had been damaged or collapsed during the earth quake. One person said that he was walking on the streets when he suddenly heard the ground below him shaking. In the melee people started shouting and running for their dear lives.

Sina Weibo is a micro blogging service that is more or less like twitter. South west China has been on the news in recent years and synonymous with earthquakes. In the year 2008 an earth quake of the magnitude 8.0 hit the town leaving tens of thousands dead.