BEIJING--- A series of earthquakes shook two rural provinces in southwest China on Friday, killing at least 80 people and damaging 20,000 homes, a provincial official said. The  _ hit Yunnan and adjoining Guizhou provinces, both rice-growing areas. The magnitude of the earthquakes ranged from 4.8 to 5.8 , according to Qiu Yu, an official at the Yunnan Provincial Civil Affair Bureau. The web site of the provincial Yunnan government said more than 100,000 people had been evacuated from their homes in Yunnan, a province known for its scenic beauty and ethnic diversity. In the town of Luozehe, a rice-and tobacco-growing area in northeastern Yunnan, 31 people were killed, Mr. Qiu said. The earthquake was so violent that rocks from landslides crushed cars in Luozehe,. A water company worker, Tan Xuewen, said in an interview. "Suddenly we felt the strong earthquake," Mr. Tan said. "Huge rocks fell off the mountain. I immediately took an old person and began to run." The local government authorities ordered people out of their homes that are spread across the hills of a mountain valley, and told them to gather in public square. At the tiny primary school in Luozehe, the teacher, Ma Decai, said his 11 students aged 9 to 12 were eating lunch in the dining room when the earthquake hit. "Dirt dropped from the ceiling into our bowls and cooking pots," Mr. Ma said. "The students abandoned their meal and ran out of the room." As he tried to prepare a new lunch for the students, aftershocks struck the building. Large cracks appeared in the mud and stone schoolhouse, and the toilet collapsed. In neighboring Guizhou Province, authorities said they knew of no casualties. But homes in rural Guizhou often built of wood and mud are usually constructed on hillsides, and provincial authorities there said some homes had been damaged or destroyed. Tents, blankets and coats were being sent to the region, the official Xinhua news agency said. The earthquake may happen   _   .
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