Earthquake in southwest China kills three, injures nearly 300

BEIJING (AP) A strong earthquake in China has killed at least three people and injured nearly 300.

State media report that 120-thousand people have been forced from their homes.

Among the dead is a child who was crushed by debris.

The Xinhua (shin-wah) news agency says rescue teams with thousands of tents, quilts and other relief supplies have rushed to the area.

News footage aired on China Central Television shows partly collapsed brick homes and soldiers knocking down unstable structures. Doctors and nurses are treating the injured in a large tent.

The U-S Geological Survey measured the quake's magnitude at six-point-two, while Chinese seismologists put it at six-point-four.

Well over 200 aftershocks have been recorded.

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