Wooden houses were said to have helped prevent more casualties from the 6.6-magnitude earthquake that hit Yunnan on Tuesday night.
According to Huang Fugang, director of Yunnan provincial earthquake administration, the wooden material the houses are made of gave the residents a better chance of surviving the earthquake. The fact that 70 percent of the area is covered by forest also helped keep the casualties and damages to a minimum, said Huang.
The five-kilometer-deep earthquake hit the province on Tuesday at 9:49 p.m. and killed at least one person and injured 336 others. Most of them were reported to be from Jinggu County, the location of the quake's epicenter, reported China.org.
The lone fatality was 58-year-old Dao Qiongfen, who was hit by bricks that got dislodged from a barn where she was working.
Zhang Jingqing, owner of a barbeque restaurant in the county, recounted some scenes, saying, "We heard a weird noise coming from underground at first and then the earth started to shake, making it impossible to stand still."
Yang Jingmei, 30, who lives in Xinzhai village in Yongping township with her family, said they were forced to stay on the roadside on Tuesday night because their house was badly damaged. Many people who had been dancing in a square fell to the ground when the quake happened, she said.
The Yunnan provincial government activated the highest level of emergency response and established traffic controls in the affected area.
The Jinggu County earthquake was the second strongest earthquake to hit the province in two months. On Aug. 3, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Ludian County, killing 615 people.