Quakes in southwest China kill dozens, damage 20,000 homes

Two shallow 5.6 magnitude earthquakes hit mountainous southwestern China on Friday, killing at least 50 people and forcing tens of thousands of people from damaged buildings, state media said. The quakes struck near the border of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, the first one at 11:19 a.m. (0319 GMT) and the second one about 45 minutes later, the U.S. Geological Survey said. About 160 people were injured and 20,000 homes damaged in the remote region about 350 km from the Yunnan provincial capital Kunming, the official Xinhua news agency said. Most of the victims were from Yiliang county in Yunnan, near the epicenter of the quakes, which struck at a depth of about 9 km (5.6 miles) according to the USGS.