KUNMING: At least a dozen earthquakes hit Yingjiang county in western Yunnan province, on the border with Myanmar, on Thursday, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

A 5.9-magnitude tremor claimed the lives of two men and one woman, leaving 106 injured, and destroyed 270 houses and damaged 3,400.

The administration has dispatched 1,300 border-guard soldiers and seven experts to the quake zone, whose epicenter is 500 km from the provincial capital Kunming. The local government has sent 2,150 tents, 3,300 quilts and 1,000 items of clothing for the 120,000 residents who were evacuated, a local government official said yesterday.

As there is a low population density in the earthquake zone, however, casualties should be relatively few. Many residents moved out of their homes after the initial shock on Wednesday to a public square and school playgrounds nearby, Zhang Jianguo, chief of Yunnan seismological bureau was quoted as saying on Thursday by the Xinhua News Agency.

The disaster comes in the wake of the 8-magnitude quake in Wenchuan on May 12.

UN Resident Coordinator in China Khalid Malik yesterday called on more countries to commit pledges to the $33.5 million UN China Appeal for the Wenchuan Earthquake Early Recovery Support launched on July 16.

"Contributions from Canada, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Belgium and European union total some $15million, but much more must be done to promote support for the appeal," Malik told a press meeting yesterday in Beijing.

The appeal is designed to bridge the gap between immediate relief and completed reconstruction.