6.6 earthquake in China kills 156, injures 5,500

156 people are dead and over 5,500 have been injured as a magnitude 6.6 earthquake has struck southwestern China. The death toll rises as the army deals with the debris of collapsed buildings.

The disaster has struck the country's south-western Sichuan province at 00:02 AM GMT (8:02 AM local time) on Saturday, at a depth of around 13 kilometers (7,6 miles), according to China's Xinhua news agency.

China's seismological bureau initially measured the earthquake’s magnitude at 7.0 on the Richter scale, while the US Geological Service estimated the magnitude at 6.6.

Preliminary reports indicate at least 156 confirmed deaths, Reuters reported, and around 3,000 people injured, many of them seriously, in the quake in the city of Ya'an, Sichuan. It is quite close to where a huge quake hit in 2008, claiming the lives of almost 70,000 people.

China’s Earthquake Administration has reported that over 1.5 million people have been affected by the earthquake and aftershocks.