The death toll from an earthquake that shook a remote area in southwest China's Yunnan province has risen to three, state media said Sunday.
The earthquake, measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale, struck Saturday in mountainous Yongsheng county, which is home to 377,000 people, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.
About 30 minutes after the first tremor hit the area at 1:35 pm (0535 GMT), an aftershock measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale was also recorded, the paper said.
Local media previously reported that more than 130 people were injured in the earthquake.
A total of 3,400 houses were reported destroyed by the strong quake, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Rescue teams were dispatched to the quake-hit areas, said head of the county, Liu Tingxing.
Yongsheng county is a sparsely populated region that abuts the Tibetan plateau and has been the scene of a series of quakes in recent years.
It lies some 300 kilometers (190 miles) northwest of the provincial capital of Kunming.
No damage was reported in the ancient town of Lijiang, a world heritage site about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the epicenter of the quake, an official said.
The town was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List in 1997 -- Beijing, (AFP)
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