April 6 (UPI) — A strong earthquake rattled an area of south-central China on Wednesday and was followed by a series of tremors that shook the geologically active country.
The quake registered a magnitude of 5.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and struck near Yibin in China’s Sichuan province. Yibin is located about 1,000 miles southwest of Beijing and 425 miles north of the China-Vietnam border.
Wednesday’s quake caused light damage to roughly 300 buildings near the epicenter. No serious injuries were reported.
The USGS said the quake’s epicenter was located 27 miles east-southeast of Xunchang at a depth of about 6 miles.
Xingwen County officials said traffic on two sections of a provincial-level highway were disrupted by the quake, which occurred close to 8 a.m. on Wednesday during the morning commute.
China is a very seismically active region of the world and frequently experiences earthquakes.
A similar 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan province last September and killed at least three people — and three others were killed by an identical quake in Xinjiang in far western China about a year ago. Nineteen others died in a powerful 2017 earthquake in central China.
One of China’s most devastating earthquakes also occurred in Sichuan province in 2008. That quake registered a magnitude of about 8.0, was felt in other countries and ultimately killed close to 90,000 people. It also left millions homeless and was followed by hundreds of major aftershocks.
