Four people were killed and 14 injured when a powerful earthquake of 6.1-magnitude struck Ya'an city in China's quake-prone southwestern Sichuan province, news agency PTI reported citing local officials.
The quake rattled Lushan County of Ya'an city at 5 pm local time, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre, or CENC.
A video on Twitter shows a woman and a child inside a clothing store rushing out as the earthquake starts. Another video shows a road where motorists, suddenly having to deal with the ground shaking, stop and run towards the centre of the road to escape from debris falling on the roadside.
The epicentre had a depth of 17 km, the CENC said. The earthquake was followed by a 4.5-magnitude tremor three minutes later in Baoxing County, the city of Ya'an. Four people were killed and 14 others injured, the state-run People's Daily reported. The four people, who died in the quake, were hit by falling rocks.
Videos and photos on social media show the quake and aftershocks have caused landslides, damaged buildings including houses built for those affected by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in 2008 in the province located on the Tibetan plateau.
School children ran out from their classrooms while residents ran to the streets as the earthquake rattled the region, followed by a series of aftershocks.
Telecommunication in parts of the two counties was damaged due to the quake, but some optical cables have been restored after emergency repairs, PTI reported.
Ya'an activated the second-highest level of emergency response for the earthquake and is conducting damage assessments.
More than 4,500 personnel from emergency rescue and other departments have been sent to the earthquake-hit areas.
The provincial earthquake administration said that the 6.1-magnitude earthquake of Lushan was an aftershock from the 7-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 100 people and injured thousands in 2013.
Sichuan province suffered China's deadliest 7.9-magnitude earthquake in 2008 in which 90,000 people were killed.
With inputs from PTI
