5.5-magnitude quake injures 32 in SW China

Injured girl Jing'e receives medical treatment from a doctor in a health center in Mengding Township of Gengma Dai and Wa Autonomous County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 2, 2015. Thirty-two people have been injured after a 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck Cangyuan County of Yunnan Province at 6:24 p.m (1024GMT) on Sunday. (Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)

Thirty-two people have been injured after a 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck southwest China's Yunnan Province on Sunday afternoon, according to local authorities.

As of Monday noon, the tremor that struck Cangyuan County at 6:24 p.m. had affected more than 81,000 residents in the counties of Cangyuan and Gengma in Lincang City, displacing 75,764, according to a statement from the city's civil affairs bureau.

Seven of the injured were severely hurt.

In addition, over 220 homes were razed and over 15,800 were seriously damaged in the two counties, it said.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the China National Commission for Disaster Reduction initiated a grade IV emergency response on Monday afternoon and have dispatched emergency response teams to the region.

A grade IV response, the lowest in the emergency response system, means a 24-hour alert, daily damage reports, and the dispatch of money and relief materials within 48 hours.

Relief materials, including tents, quilts and tarpaulins have been sent to disaster-hit regions.

As of 4:30 p.m. Monday, 730 tents had been set up, and 700 tarpaulins, 2,000 quilts, five tonnes of rice, two tonnes of noodles and flour, 730 boxes of drinking water and 791 boxes of instant noodle had been delivered, according to the provincial civil affairs bureau.

Cangyuan is a sparsely populated county that borders Myanmar, the houses in its rural areas were not built to sustain earthquakes.

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hit Yunnan's Ludian County on Aug. 3, 2014, claiming more than 600 lives and destroying over 80,000 homes.