Quake topples "80 pct of buildings" in China county

Enlarge Photo A house is destroyed by an earthquake on the outskirts of Mianyang, Sichuan province May... Slideshow: Day in pics: May 12 08

Mon, May 12 06:49 PM

BEIJING (Reuters) - About 80 percent of the buildings in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County in China's southwestern Sichuan province collapsed when an earthquake hit the area on Monday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Xinhua cited the provincial disaster relief headquarters as estimating that about 3,000 to 5,000 people were feared dead and 10,000 injured in that county alone.

The county lies northeast of the provincial capital of Chengdu.

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