A moderate earthquake centered in south-central China's Guizhou province late Sunday caused farmhouses to collapse or crack near the epicenter, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The earthquake registered a magnitude of 4.7 at an epicenter beneath Weining Yi Hui and Miao Autonomous County at 8:48 p.m. local time, China's seismological network said.
Officials near the epicenter said that there were no deaths or significant injuries resulting from the quake. Some schools were briefly evacuated while inspectors checked for structural damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports the epicenter was 1,130 miles (1,830 km) southwest of Beijing.
The agency determined that the seimic event occurred at a very shallow depth of only 6 miles (10 km).
Guizhou is a relatively poor and underdeveloped province in comparison to the more affluent ones along the eastern coast such as Guangdong.
It borders Sichuan Province to the north and Hunan province to the east in a region where seismic activity is common.
The region is still recovering from a devastating earthquake last May 12 that left at least 69,000 people dead less than three months before the start of the Beijing Olympics.
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