China quake death toll climbs to 398 as rescuers seek survivors

Liu Jiali (C) sits on a sofa next to his collapsed house as rescuers are trying to find his wife and child who were buried underneath the debris after an earthquake hit Longtoushan township of Ludian county, Yunnan province August 4, 2014. REUTERS/Wong Campion reuters_tickers

BEIJING (Reuters) – The death toll from a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that hit southwestern China on Sunday climbed to 398 people, state media reported on Monday.

China said it had dispatched thousands of armed police, soldiers and firefighters to the scene. Premier Li Keqiang visited the town on Monday, Xinhua said, urging a quick rescue for those missing and trapped by debris.

The quake, in a remote part of Yunnan province, caused thousands of buildings, including schools to collapse, the official Xinhua news agency reported

The epicentre of the quake was Longtoushan town in the province’s mountainous Ludian county.

Earthquakes frequently strike in the region. A quake in Sichuan province, also in the southwest, in 2008 killed almost 70,000 people.

The earthquake was the most severe in the region in a century, Xinhua said.

(Reporting By Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)