China launches emergency response after magnitude 6 earthquake hits Sichuan

SICHUAN - China said on Thursday (Sept 16) it had launched an emergency response after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake jolted the southwestern province of Sichuan early in the morning, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Sichuan's earthquake relief headquarters activated a level-II response, said Xinhua, the second-highest in China's four-tier emergency response system.

According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, the epicentre was 29.2 degrees north latitude and 105.34 degrees east longitude. The quake struck at a depth of 10 km.

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After the quake, which took place at 4.33am on Thursday, Luzhou City launched a level-I emergency response.

The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said earlier that the earthquake measured a magnitude of 5.5.