Three injured after 5.3-magnitude quake jolts SW China (3)

KUNMING, April 5 -- At least three people were slightly injured after a 5.3-magnitude quake jolted a town in southwest China early Saturday, provincial authorities said.

There were reports of house collapse, road cave-ins and rocks rolling down from mountains in quake-hit Yongshan County, Yunnan Province, said Li Fei,spokesman for the provincial earthquake administration.

The quake has left three people injured slightly, said a disaster relief official with the Yunnan Civil Affairs Department. The department has dispatched staffers to the affected area.

The tremor shook Yongshan at 6:40 a.m. Saturday with its epicenter 13 km deep in Xiluodu township, where the country's second largest hydropower station is situated.

The power station continued normal operation after the quake, according to Li.

Communication is normal in the quake-hit area.

"We strongly felt the quake, but it did not last long," said a local resident in the county seat.

Some residents said they were waken up by the tremor as they were asleep when it struck. Some ran out of their houses after the quake and returned home a few minutes later.

Authorities are checking the losses caused by the tremor, a Yongshan publicity official told Xinhua.