An earthquake that struck villages in China's Sichuan Province today killed one person, injured 15 and damaged thousands of homes, the Xinhua news agency reported.
More than 100 houses collapsed in the quake, which had an epicentre about midway between Chongqing and Chengdu.
The United States Geological Survey recorded the earthquake as having a magnitude of 5.2.
The casualties were reported in three villages of Moxi town, near Suining City in eastern Sichuan, according to the Sichuan Provincial Earthquake Administration.
Tongnan County, neighboring Suining, reported that 4,700 homes were damaged, with economic losses of at least 30 million yuan (about $4.5 million), Xinhua said.
Chongqing's civil affairs authority sent 40 tents and 1,500 cotton-padded quilts to the disaster area, it said.
The area east of Suining, a city of 3.8 million people, is not prone to earthquakes and has recorded only three minor temblors measuring 2.0 in the past 20 years, Xinhua reported, citing officials.
The area is about 150 km east of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, and over 200 km southeast of the region that was struck by an 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12, 2008, which left about 87,000 people dead or missing.
Reuters