Chinese earthquake claims 24 lives

AN EARTHQUAKE toppled more than 1,000 houses and apartment buildings in China’s southwest near the border with Burma, killing at least 24 people and injuring more than 200, officials and state media said.

Police, firefighters and soldiers rushed to the area to pull out people trapped in the rubble, including a man and girl stuck in the stairwell of a four-story building, according to state broadcaster China Central Television.

Parts of a supermarket and a hotel caved in, while sidewalks were lined with injured on blankets, being shielded from the sun by large vendor umbrellas.