Two earthquakes have hit southwest China killing at least three people and injuring more than two-hundred others.

The quakes, measuring six and six-point-five on the Richter scale, struck Yao'an County in Yunnan Province within ninety minutes of each other.

The regional seismological bureau said the epicentres of the two quakes were five kilometres west of Yao'an city which has a population of more than twenty-thousand inhabitants.

Several thousand houses have collapsed or been damaged, and power supplies to the area have been cut off.

Strong tremors were also felt in the provincial capital, Kunming, about two hundred kilometres away.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service