BEIJING: At least 43 people were killed and 20,000 homes were damaged when a series of earthquakes, one of them measuring magnitude 5.7, struck southwest China on Friday, state media reported.

Four quakes hit on the border of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, the largest at around 11:00 am (local time) at a depth of 14 kilometres, Xinhua said, citing the China Earthquake Networks Centre.

The US Geological Survey put the magnitude of the largest quake at 5.6 and said it struck at a depth of 10 kilometres.

The shaking prompted people to run out of buildings, Xinhua reported, citing bloggers on the popular Twitter-like site Weibo.

The largest quake, which was also felt in neighbouring Sichuan Province, was followed by several other tremors.