Hundreds injured in south China quake: agency

BEIJING (Reuters) - Hundreds of people were injured and thousands of homes damaged by a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in southwest China's Yunnan province on Thursday, Xinhua news agency said.

The government of Yao'an county estimated 30 severe injuries among more than 300 hurt, and put the number of collapsed homes at 10,000 in a hasty initial estimate.

The quake struck at 7:19 pm in Guantun township, in a mountainous area about 200 km (125 miles) northwest of the provincial capital Kunming.

The U.S. Geological Service estimated the severity of the quake at 5.7 at a depth of about 10 km.

The area has regularly suffered earthquakes and aftershocks since an 8.0 quake in neighboring Sichuan in May 2008 killed about 80,000 people.

(Reporting by Lucy Hornby, edited by Richard Meares)