China earthquake leaves 300 injured, one dead

BEIJING, Oct 8  (AFP): Thousands of rescuers were deployed in southwest China Wednesday after a strong earthquake left one person dead and more than 300 injured, with over 100,000 displaced, state-run media reported.

The shallow 6.0 magnitude tremor hit late Tuesday in Yunnan province, close to China's borders with Myanmar and Laos, China's official Xinhua news agency said. School buildings were widely damaged in the area, reports said, although the quake struck during the night and no pupil deaths were recorded.

Xinhua said 100 schools were damaged and cited a local official as saying an estimated 170,000 square metres (1.8 million square feet) of buildings needed repairs.