© Reuters/Jason Lee
A man runs past a huge stone and damaged houses in Luozehe town, after two earthquakes hit Yiliang, Yunnan province September 9, 2012.
Guohui, China - Rescuers in southwestern China tried on Saturday to reach remote communities rocked by earthquakes that killed at least 80 people and damaged thousands of buildings, state media reported.
Shallow 5.6 magnitude quakes struck an impoverished, mountainous part of the country with poor infrastructure and communications on Friday and the death toll could rise as news trickles in from cut-off areas, the Xinhua news agency said.
The quakes cut off electricity and triggered landslides that blocked roads, hampering rescue efforts. Adding to rescuers' difficulties was rain which forecasters said was expected for the next three days.
"I was extremely scared when it started to shake. After it shook the first, second and third times, it was moving and I was extremely scared," said 56-year-old Zhou Weiping, a resident of the township of Guohui in Yiliang county, near the epicenter.
"We panicked and quickly ran out," she said
State television showed crumbled walls and roads strewn with rubble and rocks. The broadcaster put the death toll at 89 earlier in the day, but later revised it to "at least 80", in line with the official Xinhua news agency's tally.
More than 800 people were injured, Xinhua said.
