A series of earthquakes has hit south-west China, leaving at least 43 people dead and 150 injured, state-run media say.

The quakes struck the border of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, with the largest felt at 11:19 Beijing time (03:19 GMT), Xinhua news agency said.

The US Geological Survey registered the two strongest of the series of quakes at 5.6 magnitude.

Thousands have been evacuated in Yunnan, local officials say.

Zhang Junwei, a spokesman from the Yunnan seismological bureau, told the Associated Press news agency that all the deaths were from Yunnan's Yiliang county.
BBC Map

More than 20,000 houses were damaged by the quakes, according to Xinhua.

Hundreds of local residents had gathered on streets littered with bricks and rocks, television footage from state-run broadcaster CCTV showed.

Users of the Twitter-like weibo reported people rushing out of shaking office buildings, and photos posted online also showed streets strewn with rubble.

Hotel staff in the city of Zhaotong in Yunnan told the BBC that the quake shook the building, knocking things from tables and shelves, reports the BBC's John Sudworth.

They said that people had been asked to leave their rooms and traffic had stopped in the streets, but there are no sign of panic, our correspondent adds.

Local officials said teams had been sent to distribute tents and blankets to those affected.

(Source : BBC)