China Quake Kills 1 Person, Injures 325; 18,000 Homes Toppled

An earthquake in China’s southwestern Yunnan province left one person dead and 325 people injured, the provincial government said.

The magnitude-6 quake struck at 7:19 p.m. local time yesterday in Guantun Township, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the provincial city of Kunming, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Eight aftershocks rattled the region as relief officials distributed tents, medicines and food to people whose homes were destroyed, Xinhua said.

About 18,000 houses were toppled and 75,000 buildings damaged across the province as of 8:30 a.m. today, a provincial government press officer said, declining to give his name.

Officials in Yunnan plan to send 4,500 tents, 3,000 quilts and other relief items to the quake zone, Xinhua said. Teams from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the National Commission for Disaster Reduction and the China Earthquake Administration are heading to the epicenter, according to the report.

Sichuan province in central China is still recovering from last year’s 7.9-magnitude earthquake that killed almost 70,000 people, flattened 4.5 million homes and left millions homeless. It was the country’s deadliest natural disaster in almost three decades.

About 3 percent of the 216,000 buildings that collapsed in the first two days after the Sichuan quake were schools, prompting parents to question whether shoddy construction added to the death toll. The government announced two months ago, shortly before the May 12 anniversary of the disaster, that 5,335 children were killed in the quake.

The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of yesterday’s quake at 5.7 with a depth of 10 kilometers.

The earthquake had no impact on mining or smelting operations at Yunnan Tin Co., Li Xia, an investor relations official, said by phone today. Yunnan Tin is the world’s biggest producer of the metal. Yunnan Aluminium Co. was also unaffected, Wang Jishi, an official at the company, said by phone.

India, China developed and growing much more quickly: Obama

Washington: President Barack Obama has said though the United States remains the military superpower and has the largest economy
, countries like India, China and Brazil are fast catching up and growing at a pace which is much faster than in the past.

"In terms of the US's role in the world, obviously, we remain a military superpower. We still have the largest economy in the world. But the world is becoming more integrated," Obama told the Itar-Tass/Rossiya TV in an interview.

"You've got countries like China and India and Brazil that are much more developed and growing much more quickly than in the past," he said.

The President said, "The United States has to recognize that our role is not to dictate policy around the world, but to be a partner with other countries around the world and find those areas of mutual concern and agreement that are so important."

A great example of this is the issue of climate change, he observed. This is an issue that could have profound impacts on both the United States and on Russia. "If the permafrost in Russia completely melts, it could completely transform the weather patterns on the planet, in some cases in very dangerous ways" he said.