Quake in China kills at least 160

YA'AN, China - Residents huddled outdoors Saturday night in a town near the epicenter of a powerful earthquake that struck the steep hills of China's southwestern Sichuan province, leaving at least 160 people dead and more than 6,700 injured.

Saturday morning's earthquake triggered landslides and disrupted phone and power connections in mountainous Lushan county five years after a quake wreaked widespread damage across the region. The village of Longmen was hit particularly hard, with authorities saying nearly all the buildings there had been destroyed in a frightening minute-long shaking.

In nearby Ya'an town, where aftershocks could be felt nearly 20 hours after the quake, residents sat in groups outside convenience stores watching the news on TVs. Wang Xing, 14, sat with her family on chairs by the roadside in the cool night air, a large blanket on her lap.

Wang and her relatives planned to spend the night in their cars. "We don't feel safe sleeping at home tonight," she said.

Along the main roads leading to the worst-hit county of Lushan, ambulances, fire engines, and military trucks piled high with supplies waited in long lines, some turning back to try other routes when roads were impassable.

Rescuers turned the square outside the Lushan County Hospital into a triage center, where personnel bandaged bleeding victims, according to footage on China Central Television. Rescuers dynamited boulders that had fallen across roads to reach areas farther up the mountain valleys, state media reported.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived by helicopter in Ya'an to direct rescue efforts, the news agency Xinhua reported.

"The current priority is to save lives," Li said after visiting hospitals, tents, and climbing on a pile of rubble to view the devastation, Xinhua said.

The China Earthquake Administration said at least 160 people had died, and 6,700 were injured.

The quake - measured by the earthquake administration at 7.0 and by the U.S. Geological Survey at 6.6 - hit the steep hills of Lushan county shortly after 8 a.m., when many were at home, sleeping or having breakfast. Its shallow depth, less than 8 miles, likely magnified the impact.