Earthquake strikes central China

An earthquake has killed at least 14 people and destroyed thousands of homes in central China.

The tremor had a magnitude of 5.7 and its epicentre was near the city of Ruichang in Jiangxi province.

Hundreds of people are reported to have been injured in the quake, which also hit the neighbouring province of Hubei.

In the Ruichang area a total of 420,000 people left their homes, fearing aftershocks, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

"Basically, everyone in Ruichang is huddling in the street," a civil affairs official told AFP news agency.

Doctors treated people outside hospitals in case of new tremors, Xinhua reported.

The earthquake had struck around 0900 local time on Saturday (0100 GMT), and several aftershocks have been reported since then.

"We'd just finished our breakfast, when we heard a huge roar, like someone setting off really loud firecrackers," the official told AFP.

Most of the damage occurred both in Ruichang and in the nearby resort town of Jiujiang.

A total of about 8,000 houses are reported to have been destroyed.

Chinese Television showed collapsed brick buildings and deep cracks in those that are still standing.

In Beijing, the civil affairs ministry said it was sending emergency relief supplies to the affected region. A specialist earthquake task force has left the capital.

The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred about 10 km (six miles) below the surface of the earth.

Shockwaves were reported to have been felt in the cities of Wuhan and Changsha, respectively 100km (63 miles) and 300km (190 miles) away.

Powerful earthquake kills 57 in Indonesia

CIANJUR, Indonesia (CNN) -- More than a day after a major earthquake jolted Indonesia's Java Island, killing at least 57 people, there is still no word from remote villages along the coast, a relief worker told CNN Thursday.

"This earthquake has injured hundreds of people and (destroyed or damaged) thousands of houses," World Vision's Katarina Hardono said.

"We worry that the number can be easily more because in many places, actually the coastal areas, we still (haven't gotten) any news."

Rescuers are still searching for dozens of people feared trapped in a quake-triggered landslide in Cianjur in West Java. They pulled several bodies from the rubble Thursday bringing the death toll from the quake to 57.

"The death count has been thankfully low, but we have to remember that tens of thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed and children and adults are urgently in need of relief items," said Hardono, who spoke to CNN from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Rainfall Thursday hampered the rescue efforts in Cianjur, where the landslide buried at least 11 homes where 32 people live, local officials said.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Cianjur, and vowed to free up nearly $500,000 (5 billion rupiahs) for emergency response efforts, according to the state-run Antara news agency.

He said there was no need for foreign assistance just yet.

"Until now the Indonesian government is still able to handle it by itself using existing national resources," he said, according to Antara.

Rescuers in Cianjur used their hands and rudimentary tools to try to pry away the rocks, some that were bigger than cars. No heavy machinery could be brought in to help in the rescue effort because many roads in the area were blocked.

The 7.0-magnitude temblor jolted the island on Wednesday shortly before 3 p.m. local time (4 a.m. ET). More than 400 people were injured.

The temblor rocked high-rise buildings in Jakarta, prompting a mass evacuation in the capital's central business district.

"I was on the 13th floor of our office building, and you know we could feel the building (shake) from left to right," said CNN's Andy Saputra. "We all ran to the fire escape and escaped from there."

Indonesia is no stranger to major earthquakes. It is located on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

In 2004, an earthquake measuring at least 9.0 in magnitude struck off the coast of the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island, triggering a major tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed more than 200,000 people in 11 countries.

About three weeks ago, a series of earthquakes -- ranging in magnitude from 4.7 to 6.7 -- struck off the western coast of Sumatra. At least seven people were injured and one building collapsed.