Earthquake kills five in China

A moderate earthquake hit a sparsely populated area of south-western China’s interior early today, killing at least five people and injuring 29 as residents of rickety houses spilled into the streets, authorities and witnesses said.

It was the third fatal earthquake in six months in the same seismically active region.

The 5.1-magnitude quake rumbled through Zhaotong, a town in Yunnan province’s Ludian County, at 2.49 am local time, according to an official at China’s State Seismological Bureau in Beijing.