Rescuers carry a child to the ambulance in Changning county, Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Tuesday. A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck Changning late Monday and has claimed 13 lives so far. Photo: VCG

A 5.4-magnitude earthquake and a series of aftershocks have rattled Gongxian county, Yibin city in Southwest China's Sichuan Province since Saturday night, injuring at least 31 people, less than a week after a major quake in nearby Changning county claimed 13 lives.

The 5.4-magnitude earthquake which struck at about 10:29 pm Beijing time on Saturday followed another major 4.6-magnitude aftershock that hit Gongxian county on Sunday morning at 8:28. 

Eleven injured were hospitalized and another eight had left the hospital with minor injuries, China Central Television reported.

Some old houses close to the epicenter, collapsed and a road was blocked due to the quake. A rescue team has been dispatched to the site, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.  

No one was living in the houses at the time, as most villagers had been living in tents after an earlier quake, local official Huang Xin told Xinhua. 

The quake was an aftershock of the 6.0-magnitude quake that hit Gongxian and neighboring Changning counties on June 17, Du Fang, director of the Sichuan provincial earthquake forecast and research center, was quoted by Xinhua as saying. 

A total of 147 aftershocks above 2.0 magnitude had been recorded as of Saturday after the quake on June 17, including three with a magnitude between 5.0 and 5.9, according to the Sichuan Earthquake Administration.

Yibin residents received the earthquake warning for the Satruday earthquake five seconds before the seismic wave arrived. 

Research has found that being aware of an earthquake even three seconds before it hits can save 14 percent of casualties, and 20 seconds' warning can save 63 percent, Xinhua said.

The warning system sends alerts to areas around the epicenter via television, cellphone, broadcasts and other terminals. The system covers 31 provinces and municipalities and has issued 40 earthquake warnings. 

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit Changning county of Yibin on June 17, which killed at least 13 people and injured 199. 

The Saturday quake's epicenter, which is 10 kilometers deep, is about 20 kilometers away from the epicenter of that quake. 

Global Times