Emergency workers have evacuated nearly 180,000 people after an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale struck part of south-western China's Yunnan province early Sunday, the government said on Monday. The central government sent an extra 10,000 tents to Yunnan's Pu'er city, following an initial 5,000 on Sunday, as local officials reported that 90,000 rooms had collapsed and 120,000 rooms were seriously damaged, dpa reported. At least three people died and 313 were injured, 28 of them seriously, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a report posted on its website. About 179,000 were evacuated and 536,000 were affected by the earthquake in the Pu'er area, where many homes were built using traditional mud-bricks and wood, the ministry said. Electricity and water were cut off, several main roads were damaged, and total direct economic losses were estimated at 2.5 billion yuan (327 million dollars). The central government also allocated emergency food, bedding and clothes and funds of 27 million yuan (3.5 million dollars), the ministry said. President Hu Jintao and other leaders had asked officials in Yunnan to "mobilize all resources available to treat the injured and minimize the losses of lives and property of the public," state media said. More than 100 aftershocks followed the first earthquake on Sunday, including one measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale. The 6.4-magnitude earthquake shook parts of neighbouring counties up to 300 kilometres from the epicentre, earlier reports said. The earthquake was the strongest to hit Yunnan province since a quake of 7.0 magnitude destroyed much of the old town of Lijiang in 1996. Nine previous earthquakes measuring at least 5.0 have been recorded within a 50-kilometre radius of Pu'er, including a 6.8-magnitude quake in March 1979.
