6.6 Magnitude Earthquake Hits China, Kills 102 and Injures over 2,000

A powerful magnitude 6.6 jolted China's Sichuan province Saturday morning. The earthquake struck a remote area and had an epicenter near Ya'an city. The quake has killed some 102 and injured over 2,000 people, of which 147 are seriously injured, according to media reports.

The earthquake, initially thought to be a 7.0 magnitude quake, occurred at 8.02 a.m. (0002 GMT).

More than 6,000 military and armed police soldiers have been deployed in quake-hit areas, according to Xinhua news agency.

Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered the rescue troops to make "every possible effort", the news agency reported.

The earthquake occurred at a depth of about 12 kilometers, a shallow earthquake known to do extensive damage, the U.S. Geological Survey said.  The event most likely occurred along the Longmenshan fault. A magnitude 7.9 earthquake had earlier hit the Sichuan province in May 2008.

People in the provincial capital Chengdu said that they felt the earthquake.                       

"I threw on a some clothes quickly and made my way into the courtyard of my complex," Aaron Ozment, a local resident, told the BBC. "Making calls was almost impossible; everybody was trying to contact everybody they knew."

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the earthquake-hit region.

"The current most urgent issue is grasping the first 24 hours after the quake's occurrence, the golden time for saving lives, to take scientific rescue measures and save peoples' lives," Li said, Xinhua reported.