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Strong Quake Strikes Western China; 1 Dead, Several Injured, Collapsed Homes Reported

BEIJING (CBS/AP) -- A strong earthquake struck a lightly populated, mountainous area of western China on Saturday, killing at least one person, injuring 15 others and causing at least two homes to collapse, officials and state media said.

The United States Geological Survey said the magnitude-5.9 quake had a depth of nine miles. It struck in the late afternoon about 20 miles from the town of Kangding in Sichuan Province.

A woman in her 70s died after being struck by a falling window pane, said the official Xinhua News Agency and the state broadcaster CCTV, citing Chen Yunbing, a doctor at the region's Ganzi People's Hospital. No additional information was given about the 15 injured.

A duty officer at the Kangding County government officers, who gave his surname as Xia, said that the quake lasted only a few seconds, and that there had been some reports of cracks in buildings and toppled walls. The area is frequently struck by earthquakes, and Mr. Xia said newly constructed buildings in the town of Kangding must be able to withstand quakes with a magnitude of up to 8, although requirements are less strict in the surrounding rural area.

Along with the two collapsed homes, Kangding's regional airport sustained some damage, though flights were not disrupted, Xinhua said.

Wang Dan, a spokeswoman for the government of Ganzi Prefecture, which includes Kangding County, said rescue teams had been sent to the quake's epicenter.

Xinhua said workers were restoring the electricity supply to Tagong, the town closest to the epicenter, where a statue of Buddha in a local temple was also damaged. About 100 vehicles were trapped by a landslide on a highway connecting Sichuan and Tibet, and railway service was also halted in the area while workers checked on damage to the line, Xinhua said.

No major damage was reported in the town of Kangding, where CCTV video showed residents strolling the town's streets, looking up at the steep surrounding hillsides and talking on their cellphones.

Kangding and the surrounding county have a population of 129,320 people, about 70 percent of them Tibetan.

Western China is regularly hit by earthquakes, and reports said Saturday's quake could be felt in the Sichuan provincial capital, Chengdu, on the plains below the Himalayan foothills. Sichuan was struck by a magnitude-7.9 quake in May 2008 that left nearly 90,000 people dead, many of them in collapsed schools and other poorly constructed buildings.

Construction standards have been significantly tightened since then, and the country's disaster response capacity has improved with better equipment and trained rescue teams.

COMPLETE QUAKE COVERAGE: CBS Earthquake Resource Center

This article will be updated as information warrants, and follow KPIX 5 on Twitter at @CBSSF or KCBS Radio on Twitter at @KCBSNews for updates on breaking news anytime.

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