Official: China quake kills 32, injures 600

photo In this photo provided by China's official Xinhua News Agency, a giant rock blocks the road, about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from the county seat of Lushan in Ya'an city, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Saturday, April 20, 2013. A powerful earthquake jolted China's Sichuan province Saturday near where a devastating quake struck five years ago.

BEIJING - A Communist Party official says that earthquake that hit China's Sichuan provinces left at least 32 people dead and injured more than 600.

Xu Mengjia, party secretary of Ya'an city, which administers the area where the quake hit, told China Central Television on Saturday that the casualty count could climb higher.

The quake, which struck shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday, was measured at magnitude-7 by China's seismological bureau and at 6.6 by the U.S. Geological Survey. It struck near the area where a devastating quake left 90,000 dead or missing and presumed dead five years ago.

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