3 injured, houses flattened by China quake

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake today jolted central China's Hubei Province, injuring three persons and topping 79 homes.
The quake hit the mountainous Badong County at 1:04 pm, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
The epicenter, with a depth of five km, was located at 31.1 degrees north latitude and 110.4 degrees east longitude, the center said in a statement.
Two of the injured were sent to a local hospital and no deaths were reported so far, according to authorities.
A total of 79 homes were toppled and 1,543 others were severely damaged by the quake, resulting in overall losses of approximately 16 million yuan (USD 2.6 million), they said.

The quake was felt by local residents and people in the neighbouring cities of Yichang, Xiangyang and Shiyan.

Residents in the county gathered at the largest square to avoid being affected by aftershocks and quake-triggered landslides, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
A woman, surnamed Lu, said she was scared when the pendant lamp and ceiling fan in her neighbour's room fell down. Schools suspended classes in the wake of the earthquake, she added.
The Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, which is located more than 100 km from the epicenter, remained intact and was operating normally after the quake, said Hu Xing'e, vice head of the management bureau of the project with the China Three Gorges Corporation.

Rescuers and firefighters are rushing to the quake-hit region. Further verification of the earthquake's impact is under way.