BEIJING : A moderate earthquake Sunday toppled houses in a mountainous part of southwestern China, killing two people and injuring at least 100, state media said.

The magnitude-5.7 quake was centered near the border of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces where many Yi ethnic minority live, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

It said the casualties occurred in Yunnan's Ninglang county and Sichuan's Yanyuan county, where many houses collapsed.

Rescue officials were sending tents, quilts and clothes to the affected area, it said.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 5.5.

A magnitude-5.8 quake in Yunnan in March last year killed 25 people and damaged thousands of homes. The area is about 2,340 kilometers (1,450 miles) southwest of Beijing.