By IRNA,
Beijing : New aftershocks have toppled 420,000 homes and left dozens injured in southwest China, heaping destruction and fear on a region struggling to recover from the country’s worst earthquake in decades.
The houses collapsed when a 5.4 magnitude aftershock rocked Sichuan province’s Qingchuan county, wounding 63 people, six critically, Xinhua news agency said.
Another tremor, of 5.7 magnitude, hit neighbouring Ningqiang county in Shaanxi province, the agency said. No deaths had been reported.
The aftershocks struck the mountainous region as soldiers worked to dig a giant sluice to ease pressure on a swelling “quake lake”.
Meanwhile, a planned evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people to avert a new disaster continued.
The official death toll from the 7.9 magnitude quake that struck Sichuan province has reached 67,183, but looks certain to rise as 20,790 are listed as missing.
IRNA reporter in Beijing said that the quake injured nearly 362,000 people.