Still reeling from the Ludian earthquake in southern China that killed at least 617 people on August 6, the region was hit again with a temblor, this time measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale. While officials state the two events are not related, it did little to calm the region's rattled nerves. 

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Striking at 6:07 AM local time on Sunday in Yongshan County in China's Yunnan Province, with the epicenter about 4 miles below Wuji Township. Although no deaths have yet been reported, 20 people were injured and 647 were evacuated. 

There was much more damage to homes and infrastructure. In a statement issued by the local seismological bureau, 1,463 houses were damaged, 575 badly, and 45 homes collapsed along with 76 cattle pens. Most of the damage was found to be in traditionally-made adobe-brink houses. More solidly-built, fourteen schools across the quake zone nevertheless reported damage, and repair crews were hampered by 542 separate landslides across roads and highways. Even as villagers dig out, over 40 miles of roadway, 11 electrical transformers, 32 water unilities, 37 miles of canals and 84 miles of water pipeline are now in desperate need of repair. 

Reports say that an estimated about 200 firefighters from various cities have arrived in Yongshan for rescue, aiding the 1,000 local officials, policemen and militia personnel already on-site for rescue efforts and damage assessments.

Zhang Junwei, an official with the provincial seismological bureau, told reporters that the Yongshan earthquake is not an aftershock of the Ludian earthquake as the epicenters of the two quakes are 84 miles from each other. 

Southern China is often hit with tremors, the result of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate crashing into the Eurasian plate. The Ludian quake measured 6.1, but the region has seen quakes as powerful as 8.0 on the scale. Much of the loss of life comes from poor construction of buildings not made with withstand even moderate shaking and crashing down on occupants.

TagsYunnan earthquake, Yongshan, China earthquake