Sixteen people were injured as of 0:30 a.m. Sunday after a 5.4-magnitude earthquake rattled Gongxian County of Yibin City in southwest China's Sichuan Province, at 10:29 p.m. Saturday (Beijing Time), local authorities said.
The injured have been rushed to hospital for treatment, according to Gongxian's publicity department.
The epicenter, with a depth of 10 km, was monitored at 28.43 degrees north latitude and 104.77 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).
More than 40 rescuers have been dispatched to Yuchi Village of Gongquan Town, located at the epicenter. So far, no casualties have been reported in the village. A house in the village collapsed and a village road was disrupted in the quake, local authorities said.
Du Fang, director of the Sichuan provincial earthquake forecast and research center, said that the quake was an after-shock of the 6.0-magnitude quake that hit Gongxian and neighboring Changning counties on Monday evening.
A total of 147 after-shocks above 2.0 magnitude had been recorded as of Saturday after Monday's quake, including three with a magnitude between 5.0 and 5.9, according to the Sichuan Earthquake Administration.
Xinhua reporters in Gongxian saw the rain was getting heavier.
Ke Yong, a publicity official of Gongxian, said strong tremors were felt in the seat of the county government, and authorities were investigating casualties and property damage.
The strong after-shock may aggravate the damage from the previous quake, Ke said.
Yang Zhongqiao, an official of Gongquan Town, said the quake was quite scary and caused some dilapidated houses to collapse.
The quake was felt in a school in Shuanghe Town of Changning, which is used as a shelter for people affected in the earlier quake. Tents and other facilities in the school were not damaged in the quake.
Tremors were also felt in Chengdu, Liangshan and other Sichuan cities as well as the neighboring Chongqing Municipality.
