The 2006 Yanjin earthquake was a magnitude 5.2 earthquake in southwestern China. It occurred on July 22, 2006, at 01:10 UTC (09:10 local time). Seismologists have placed the epicentre at 27°59′31″N 104°12′54″E / 27.992°N 104.215°E / 27.992; 104.215, and its hypocenter at a depth of 10.0 km. This is 35 km WNW from Zhaotong city and 1740 km SW of Beijing, the capital city of China.
The earthquake toppled at least 1400 houses and sent large boulders tumbling down the hillsides onto residential areas in the mountainous southern regions of the Yunnan province. Chinese officials have been reported as saying that the tremor killed 16 and injured 60 people in Yanjin County, and killed a further three and injured 46 more in nearby Daguan County.
Railroad services in the region were halted by the quake, as the quake damaged the local railroad tracks, forcing officials to shut down service between Sichuan's Neijiang city and Yunnan's capital of Kunming.
Yanjin County has a population of about 350,000.
Read more about 2006 Yanjin Earthquake: Statistics
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“Through the din and desultoriness of noon, even in the most Oriental city, is seen the fresh and primitive and savage nature, in which Scythians and Ethiopians and Indians dwell. What is echo, what are light and shade, day and night, ocean and stars, earthquake and eclipse, there? The works of man are everywhere swallowed up in the immensity of nature. The AEgean Sea is but Lake Huron still to the Indian.”
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