A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck China's Sichuan on Monday, the strongest to hit the region since 2017, killing at least 46 people and shaking the provincial capital of Chengdu and other provinces.

According to media reports, the death toll from the earthquake rose to 46.

Some roads and homes near the epicentre were damaged by landslides, while communications were down in at least one area, according to state television.

No damage at dam and hydropower stations within 50 km (31 miles) of the epicentre has been reported.

The epicentre was at Luding, the China Earthquake Networks Centre said, a town in the mountains about 226 km southwest of Chengdu.

Earthquakes are common in Sichuan, a southwestern province, especially in its mountains in the west, a tectonically active area along the eastern boundary of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

Laura Luo, who lives in Chengdu, a city of about 21 million people, was on her way back to her apartment block when she saw people in her neighbourhood rushing out of their high-rise homes in panic after getting earthquake warnings on their phones.

"There were many people who were so terrified they started crying," the international PR consultant told Reuters.

When the shaking began, "All the dogs started barking. It was really quite scary."

In Luding, the quake was so strong it was hard for some people to remain standing, while cracks appeared on some houses, according to state media China News Service.

Video clips posted on social media showed lights swinging while people rushed out of buildings into the streets.

A total of 39,000 people live within 20 km of the epicentre and 1.55 million within 100 km, according to state television.

The quake was Sichuan's biggest since August 2017, when one of magnitude 7.0 hit Aba prefecture.

The most powerful Sichuan earthquake on record was in May 2008, when a magnitude 8.0 quake centred in Wenchuan killed almost 70,000 people and caused extensive damage.

Monday's quake was also felt in the provinces of Yunnan, Shaanxi and Guizhou hundreds of kilometres away, according to state media.

Samantha Yang, 23, a Chengdu resident and recent university graduate, said she had just finished lunch and was in bed about to take a nap when she felt the quake.

"The building kept shaking, each time more severely than before," Yang said. "Truly, this was the scariest one since the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake."

First Published:Sept 5, 2022 1:04 PM IST