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'It's So Terrible': Quake Reportedly Kills At Least 150 In Southwest China

Residents look for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed house after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit the area in Ludian county in Zhaotong, southwest China's Yunnan province Sunday. The quake hit at a relatively shallow depth of about 6 miles.
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Residents look for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed house after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit the area in Ludian county in Zhaotong, southwest China's Yunnan province Sunday. The quake hit at a relatively shallow depth of about 6 miles.

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit Yunnan Province Sunday afternoon, leveling buildings and rippling roads near the city of Zhaotong. News media in China are saying at least 150 people died in the quake, which struck in an area with old and vulnerable buildings.

Rescue crews are still working to find survivors who might have been trapped beneath the rubble — an effort that's complicated by recent mudslides that have made some roads impassible. The quake had a relatively shallow epicenter, at a depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles).

Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency says it spoke to a resident of Ludian who says "it felt like 'sailing a boat' when he was driving a car in the tremor."

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Xinhua also spoke to another resident who said the streets now look like they've been through a war. A neighbor's two-story house fell down, she said.

"It's so terrible. The aftermath is much much worse than what happened after the quake two years ago," the resident, Ma Liya, said. "I have never felt so strong tremors before. What I can see are all ruins."

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake hit in an area that's a bit more than 300 miles south of Chengdu, where powerful and deadly quakes struck in 2008 and 2013.

In its evaluation of the area, the agency says:

"Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are highly vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though some resistant structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are unreinforced brick masonry and ductile reinforced concrete frame construction."

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The quake's magnitude is being reported as 6.5 by Chinese officials, and 6.1 by the USGS.

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