The tremor hit at 12:56 pm (0456 GMT) and was centred about 90 kilometres (60 miles) northwest of Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, at a relatively shallow depth of 16 kilometres, Xinhua news agency said, citing the China Earthquake Administration.

An emergency team dispatched to the area found lots of rural houses had been severely damaged by the tremor, Xinhua said.

"They are continuing their investigation into the casualties and losses," the spokesman for the Yunnan Provincial Seismological Bureau said.

Yunnan's government planned to earmark five million yuan (more than 700,000 dollars) as relief funds for the tremor-hit area, Vice Governor Cao Jianfang said, according to the agency.

"We must ensure that the disaster-stricken residents are properly accommodated and have adequate food, water and clothes," Cao said.

The local Red Cross and provincial authorities had also sent emergency teams and relief supplies to the quake zone, Xinhua reported.

An 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit neighbouring Sichuan in May 2008, leaving nearly 87,000 people dead or missing and more than five million others homeless.

Chinese state media said in January that authorities would complete more than 90 percent of reconstruction in quake-devastated Sichuan this year.

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