File Photo: Yuzhong county, in China's northwest Gansu province. AFP
Eleven people were taken to area hospitals with injuries, state broadcaster CCTV said. Five of the six people brought to one hospital were admitted for further treatment, the official Xinhua News Agency said. They were in stable condition.
The earthquake struck at 5:49 a.m. in Longxi county at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometres (6 miles), the Chinese government earthquake centre said. The epicentre was about 140 kilometres (87 miles) southeast of Lanzhou, the provincial capital.
Seventeen houses were destroyed and more than 3,500 residential buildings were damaged, state media said. About 7,800 people in Longxi and Zhangxian counties have been relocated.
Videos posted online by state media showed emergency workers using shovels to clear bricks and other rubble. Some sections of a road were strewn with rocks and other debris, but traffic was flowing, Xinhua said.
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