MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Hundreds of people may have been killed and thousands injured in n earthquake that hit China’s southwestern Sichuan province, China's National Commission for Disaster Reduction said Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, the Chinese Seismological Center said that tremors were registered in Jiuzhaigou district of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. The epicenter of the 7.0-mangnitude earthquake was located at the depth of 8 kilometers (some 5 miles). According to the government of the Aba prefecture, at least five people were killed and 63 were injured.
"According to preliminary estimates, the earthquake could cause serious damage of 24,000 houses and kill up to hundreds of people and injure thousands," the commission said in a statement.
