Dali hit by 5.0 magnitude earthquake
At 5:07 this morning Binchuan County in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture was shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale. No injuries have been reported so far, but most homes in the area are suffering from severe cracking and many homes have collapsed.

Kunming hostage crisis resolved
Kunming police were busy early on Sunday morning when a man held a young woman hostage at a Citic Bank ATM on Beijing Lu. At 6:40 am migrant worker Wu Wenkai, 32, took Yang Lifeng, 23, hostage with a knife. Shortly afterward, police had sealed off the area, with a large group of passersby watching the hostage situation unfold through the glass of the ATM booth.

Police negotiated with Wu for eight hours before succeeding in ending the standoff without violence on Sunday afternoon. Wu reportedly said that he had resorted to taking a hostage to bring attention to his unpaid wages.

Qujing's roads filling up with motorized vehicles
As of October 20, the government of Qujing had registered 605,000 motorized vehicles, accounting for more than 10 percent of all of Yunnan's motorized vehicles.

Unlike Kunming, where automobiles make up the bulk of the more than one million registered motorized vehicles, the motorcycle is king in Qujing. According to government statistics, motorcycles account for 65 percent of the vehicles on Qujing's roads.

Qujing, Yunnan's second-largest city, is one of China's wealthiest cities in terms of purchasing power parity, primarily from its pillar industries of tobacco, pharmaceuticals and mining. However, Qujing's economy is slowly moving away from the large state-owned enterprise model, with the share of local GDP generated by retail and real estate growing rapidly in recent years.

Chinese President Hu Jintao wrapped up a four-day inspection tour of Yunnan on Tuesday in which ethnic unity and government concern for the development of western China were the primary messages, according to a Xinhua report.

President Hu's inspection tour, which was not covered in Chinese media until its conclusion yesterday, took him through Kunming, Chuxiong and Yao'an, the site of a 6.0 magnitude earthquake that injured hundreds and destroyed tens of thousands of homes earlier this month.

While in Kunming's Shuncheng neighborhood, Hu stressed the importance of ethnic unity to a group of minorities, urging them to "Improve the precious and hard-earned overall good ethnic unity in China and to make the flower of ethnic unity bloom even more brightly and beautifully."

Perhaps somewhat ironically, most of Shuncheng, downtown Kunming's old Muslim quarter, has fallen victim to the wrecking ball, displacing its former Hui and Uighur residents for major real estate projects including the Twin Towers, a soon-to-be finished high-end residential, commercial and office development on Dongfeng Xi Lu, west of the Jinri Tunnel.

While in Yao'an, Hu inspected rubble from this month's earthquake and met with local officials and homeless locals, offering words of encouragement and support.

"We are definitely able to cross this difficult junction and rebuild a beautiful home," Hu said.

While making the rounds in Yunnan, Hu also sent a personal greeting to US President Barack Obama during this week's China-US strategic and economic dialogue. During the talks, China and the US agreed to resume military ties, which had been suspended in fallout from riots in Tibet last year, and it was announced that Obama would visit China before the end of this year.

More than 80 are injured and more than 3,200 homes are destroyed after an earthquake shook the countryside around 175km Northwest of Kunming on Thursday night.

A 6.0 magnitude tremor rattled Yao'an County (姚安) in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture yesterday, with damage reports only just beginning to be released to local media. As of 12:00 am today, more than 620,000 people have been affected by the quake, with 56 seriously injured and 28 lightly injured.

The quake, which was felt in Kunming, took place at 7:19 pm on Thursday night, 10 kilometers below the earth's surface. In addition to Yao'an, injuries and damage have also been reported in Dayao, Mouding, Nanhua, Yuanmou and Yongren.

The tremor collapsed more than 3,200 homes and more than 4,800 have been damaged. Five thousand tents have been sent to Yao'an for victims left homeless by the quake.

Update: As of 8:30 am on Friday, China Daily is reporting 336 injured with 18,000 collapsed homes, and 30,000 homes suffering damage.

Other reports have put the quake at 6.2 magnitude. One person is reported dead, with over 300 injured, 29 seriously.

Image: news.kunming.cn

One year ago today at 2:35 in the afternoon, people in high buildings in Kunming couldn't help but notice that something wasn't right – the world had suddenly gone wobbly.

As with any noticeable tremor, the first thoughts of many turned to the epicenter – where in Yunnan was it? One year earlier the town of Pu'er had been hit hard by a 6.4 magnitude quake that killed several, injured hundreds and left thousands homeless.

Once the word began to spread that the epicenter was in Wenchuan, 90 kilometers (55 miles) west-northwest of Chengdu – one province away in Sichuan – the substantial magnitude of the quake started to become clear. The fact that the quake was centered in the heart of a province of 100 million people suggested a potentially massive death toll, which is exactly what happened.

A collective sigh of relief was breathed as it became clear that Chengdu and its 12 million inhabitants had for the most part dodged a bullet. But when government officials announced that the magnitude was 7.8 – a number which would later be revised to 8.0 – all thoughts turned to the certain devastation in the countryside.

The images and accounts of the aftermath of the Wenchuan quake are etched in millions of minds. The rush to save those still trapped beneath the rubble gave way to resignation and the stench of death. Small cities became ghost towns. Quake lakes remained as somber monuments to nature's destructive whims.

A three-day national mourning period was declared. Individuals, companies and corporations chipped in what they could for the relief effort. China rallied around its cousins in the southwest in a show of unity that hadn't been seen since the Yangtze floods of 1998.

In the end, nothing could change the hard facts. Nearly 90,000 people were dead or missing. Almost 400,000 had suffered injuries. Several million were homeless. Basic infrastructure was in shambles.

Now, one year on, it is a time for remembrance - and questions: How can the millions still living in temporary housing move on to a semblance of what they had before the quake? How can schoolchildren, who suffered disproportionately from the quake, be better protected should a quake hit the area again? What role, if any, did extensive damming in the region play? What can China and the rest of the world learn from a tragedy of this magnitude?

Editor's note: GoKunming's sister site in Chengdu, GoChengdoo has more details about news and events related to the still-ongoing quake recovery plus commemoration of the tragic events of one year ago.

Image: Julien Rideller, via GoChengdoo

Rail services between Kunming and Chengdu resumed on Friday, two weeks after being severed by a 6.1-magnitude earthquake that killed 40 and damaged or destroyed more than 900,000 homes in southern Sichuan and northern Yunnan provinces.

A passenger train carrying more than 1,000 passengers departed Kunming on Friday afternoon, relaunching rail traffic between the two provincial capitals just in time for Mid-Autumn festival.

The 18- to 23-hour trip is one of the most tunnel-ridden sections of rail in China.

Related article: Earthquake rattles Sichuan, Yunnan provinces

China has allocated 27 million yuan (3.95 million dollars) in relief funds for the areas of southern Sichuan and northern Yunnan hit by a 6.1 magnitude quake on Saturday that affected nearly a million people and whose death toll currently stands at forty.

The areas of Huili County and Panzhihua in Sichuan plus Chuxiong prefecture in Yunnan were hit hardest by Saturday's tremor, which destroyed or damaged more than 392,000 homes and led to the evacuation of around 181,000, according to Xinhua reports. At least 675 have been reported injured.

Saturday's quake was located on the southern end of the fault line involved in the devastating May 12 earthquake centered around Wenchuan county that left nearly 88,000 people dead or missing.

Related articles:

24 hours later, aftershock hits Sichuan, Yunnan

Earthquake rattles Sichuan, Yunnan provinces

Yesterday at 4:31 pm, a strong aftershock registering 5.6 in magnitude hit southern Sichuan near Panzhihua 24 hours and one minute after Saturday's 6.1-magnitude earthquake in the same location. Once again, the tremor was able to be felt in buildings as far south as Kunming.

According to the most recent Xinhua reports, 32 people died in Saturday's quake, more than 400 were injured and over 100,000 homes were destroyed or damaged.

No information has been made available regarding casualties or damage from Sunday's aftershock. More than 800,000 people have been affected by the quakes.

According to Chinese media reports, the areas most affected by the quakes include Panzhihua, Huili and Liangshan in Sichuan and Zhaotong, Chuxiong and Dali.

UPDATE: As of 6:30 pm Beijing time on Monday, Xinhua is reporting that 38 people have been confirmed dead from the quake.

Related article: Earthquake rattles Sichuan, Yunnan provinces

An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter
scale shook southwest China this afternoon at 4:30 pm. According to initial reports, the earthquake's epicenter was located 50 kilometers south of Panzhihua (攀枝花), Sichuan province.

As of 6:30 pm Beijing time no reports of damage or injuries have emerged. Panzhihua, a city of slightly more than 1 million, is located near Sichuan's southern border with Yunnan roughly 350 kilometers north of Kunming. The tremor was able to be felt in high buildings throughout Kunming.

Today's earthquake is the second episode of major seismic activity to hit southwest China in the past month - on August 19 and 21, two quakes hit Yunnan's Yingjiang County (盈江县) near the Myanmar border, measuring 5.0 and 5.9 in magnitude, respectively.

The first Yingjiang quake was quickly followed by two aftershocks measuring less than 5.0, while the second quake killed at least three and left 106 injured, 24 of which were considered serious injuries.

Today's quake also hits Sichuan as it was recovering from the devastating earthquake in Wenchuan County on May 12, which killed nearly 70,000 people.

GoKunming will provide more updates as they become available.

UPDATE: At least 22 are confirmed dead - 17 in Sichuan and five in Yunnan - and more than 100 are injured from Saturday's quake, according to Xinhua reports. At least 1,000 homes were destroyed by the tremor.

Related article: Hope during dark times: Witnessing the earthquake's aftermath