CHENGDU (China), May 25: At least one person died and more than 260 others were injured on Sunday in southwest China by the strongest aftershock since a massive earthquake two weeks ago, authorities and state media said.

The aftershock, which measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, also destroyed more than 70,000 homes and left 200,000 others in danger of collapse, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting a local disaster relief official.

An official at the Sichuan Earthquake Bureau told AFP that it had been the strongest of more than 8,000 aftershocks detected since the 8.0-magnitude quake on May 12 that destroyed large swathes of the south-western Sichuan province.

The US Geological Survey put the magnitude of Sunday’s aftershock at 5.8.

The state television quoted an earthquake relief official in the city of Guangyuan, north of the provincial capital Chengdu, as saying the aftershock caused at least one death and 262 injuries in that city.

The same official, Wang Fei, was later quoted by Xinhua as saying about 71,300 homes had collapsed in Guangyuan on Sunday and more than 200,000 others were in danger of collapsing.

Xinhua reported that 26 of the people injured were in serious condition.

The quake -- which struck in mid-afternoon and it centred about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Chengdu -- sent people fleeing from buildings in the provincial capital, AFP correspondents witnessed.

“Houses started to shake and everybody went out into the street,” Chengdu resident Lou Taiyi told AFP.

“We were thinking (May 12) was behind us but it is continuing,” he said.

However, residents soon began filtering back inside soon after the quake, with many taking it in stride.

“I am not afraid. We are getting used to it,” a young woman, walking down a Chengdu street with two female friends, told AFP.

The death toll from the May 12 quake rose again on Sunday, with the government putting the figure at 62,664, with another 23,775 listed as missing.

Meanwhile, an elderly man was rescued unhurt from the collapsed remains of his home 11 days after the massive quake in south-western China, state media reported in Beijing on Sunday.

Xiao Zhihu, 80, had been provided water and food by his wife since the earthquake hit the area and was in stable condition when rescue workers finally rescued him on Friday in the city of Manchu, the China News Service reported.—AFP