SW China is struck by strong quake; at least 7 dead

BEIJING — A strong earthquake shook a mountainous region in southwestern China on Tuesday evening, killing seven people, injuring 88 others, some seriously, and knocking out power and phone networks.

At least five of the dead were tourists, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said.

The magnitude-6.5 quake struck a region bordered by the provinces of Sichuan and Gansu at a depth of just 5.5 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more damage than deeper ones.

The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the temblor at magnitude-7.0 and said it struck at a depth of 12 miles. The quake occurred around 9:20 p.m. near Jiuzhai Valley, a national park known for spectacular waterfalls.

A federal judge who found the oppressive heat at Texas’ Wallace Pack Unit prison threatened the health of inmates agreed Tuesday to a plan to temporarily move the 1,037 prisoners to cooler lockups. State officials proposed housing most of the inmates in climatecontrolled state prisons in Austin and Diboll.

Utah officials have confirmed the state is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for $1.9 billion in damages after the EPA inadvertently triggered a multistate spill from an old gold mine in Colorado. The Utah attorney general’s office said Tuesday the state filed the claim in February but never publicly announced it.