BEIJING, July 24: One person was killed and at least 17 injured on Thursday as three powerful earthquakes hit the area of China’s southwest that was devastated by a massive tremor in May, local authorities said.

The three quakes rattled a rural, mountainous area, the US Geological Survey said, where the May 12 quake struck leaving more than 87,000 people dead or missing. One person was killed in Thursday’s quakes and at least 17 people were injured, including six seriously, the Sichuan Provincial Earthquake Bureau said.

The local earthquake bureau said that 360 homes had collapsed and several roads had been damaged or destroyed in the quakes, which hit within a few kilometres of each other where Sichuan borders Gansu province.

The area was severely damaged in the May quake but that appeared to help reduce casualties on Thursday, as most people were living in tents after losing their homes in the earlier disaster, according to reports in the Chinese press.—AFP